小王子 第10期:變老

Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me, with his sheep.

我的朋友帶著他的小羊已經(jīng)離去六年了。

If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him.

我之所以在這里盡力把他描寫出來(lái)，就是為了不要忘記他。

To forget a friend is sad.

忘記一個(gè)朋友，這太叫人悲傷了。

Not every one has had a friend.

并不是所有的人都有過(guò)一個(gè)朋友。

And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...

再說(shuō)，我也可能變成那些大人那樣，只對(duì)數(shù)字感興趣。

It is for that purpose, again, that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils.

也正是為了這個(gè)緣故，我買了一盒顏料和一些鉛筆。

It is hard to take up drawing again at my age,

像我這樣年紀(jì)的人，

when I have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside, since I was six.

而且除了六歲時(shí)畫過(guò)閉著肚皮的和開(kāi)著肚皮的巨蟒外，別的什么也沒(méi)有嘗試過(guò)，現(xiàn)在，重新再來(lái)畫畫，真費(fèi)勁啊!

I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible.

當(dāng)然，我一定要把這些畫盡量地畫得逼真，

But I am not at all sure of success.

但我自己也沒(méi)有把握。

One drawing goes along all right, and another has no resemblance to its subject.

一張畫得還可以，另一張就不象了。

I make some errors, too, in the little prince's height: in one place he is too tall and in another too short.

還有身材大小，我畫得有點(diǎn)不準(zhǔn)確。在這個(gè)地方小王子畫得太大了些，另一個(gè)地方又畫得太小了些。

And I feel some doubts about the color of his costume.

對(duì)他衣服的顏色我也拿不準(zhǔn)。

So I fumble along as best I can, now good, now bad, and I hope generally fair-to-middling.

于是我就摸索著這么試試那么改改，畫個(gè)大概齊。

In certain more important details I shall make mistakes, also.

我很可能在某些重要的細(xì)節(jié)上畫錯(cuò)了。

But that is something that will not be my fault.

這就得請(qǐng)大家原諒我了。

My friend never explained anything to me.

因?yàn)槲业倪@個(gè)朋友，從來(lái)也不加說(shuō)明解釋。

He thought, perhaps, that I was like himself.

他認(rèn)為我同他一樣。

But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes.

可是，很遺憾，我卻不能透過(guò)盒子看見(jiàn)小羊。

Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups.

我大概有點(diǎn)和大人們差不多。

I have had to grow old.

我一定是變老了。