I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.
我显出厌烦的样子:在茫茫的大沙漠上盲目地去找水井,真荒唐。然而我们还是开始去寻找了。
When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory:
当我们默默地走了好几个小时以后,天黑了下来,星星开始发出光亮。由于渴我有点发烧,我看着这些星星,象是在做梦一样。小王子的话在我的脑海中跳来跳去。
"Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded.
“你也渴吗?”我问他。
But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:
他却不回答我的问题,只是对我说:
"Water may also be good for the heart..."
“水对心也是有益处的…”
I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.
我不懂他的话是什么意思,可我也不做声…我知道不应该去问他。
He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again:
他累了,他坐下来。我在他身旁坐下。沉默了一会,他又说道:
"The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen."
“星星是很美的,因为有一朵人们看不到的花…”
I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.
我回答道:“当然。”而我默默地看着月光下沙漠的褶皱。
"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.
“沙漠是美的。”他又说道。
And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...
确实如此。我一直很喜欢沙漠。坐在一个沙丘上,什么也看不见、听不见。但是,却有一种说不出的东西在默默地放着光芒…
"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..."
“使沙漠更加美丽的,就是在某个角落里,藏着一口井…”