英文小說連載《小王子》No.15地理學(xué)家

　　The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.

　　"Oh， look！ Here is an explorer！" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.

　　The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far！

　　"Where do you come from？" the old gentleman said to him.

　　"What is that big book？" said the little prince. "What are you doing？"

　　"I am a geographer，" the old gentleman said to him.

　　"What is a geographer？" asked the little prince.

　　"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas， rivers， towns， mountains， and deserts."

　　"That is very interesting，" said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession！" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.

　　"Your planet is very beautiful，" he said. "Has it any oceans？"

　　"I couldn't tell you，" said the geographer.

　　"Ah！" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains？"

　　"I couldn't tell you，" said the geographer.

　　"And towns， and rivers， and deserts？"

　　"I couldn't tell you that， either."

　　"But you are a geographer！"

　　"Exactly，" the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns， the rivers， the mountains， the seas， the oceans， and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions， and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him， the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."

　　"Why is that？"

　　"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much."

　　"Why is that？" asked the little prince.

　　"Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one."

　　"I know some one，" said the little prince， "who would make a bad explorer."

　　"That is possible. Then， when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good， an inquiry is ordered into his discovery."

　　"One goes to see it？"

　　"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example， if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain， one requires that large stones be brought back from it."

　　The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.

　　"But you-- you come from far away！ You are an explorer！ You shall describe your planet to me！"

　　And， having opened his big register， the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs， before putting them down in ink.

　　"Well？" said the geographer expectantly.

　　"Oh， where I live，" said the little prince， "it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows."

　　"One never knows，" said the geographer.

　　"I have also a flower."

　　"We do not record flowers，" said the geographer.

　　"Why is that？ The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet！"

　　"We do not record them，" said the geographer， "because they are ephemeral."

　　"What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'？"

　　"Geographies，" said the geographer， "are the books which， of all books， are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things."

　　"But extinct volcanoes may come to life again，" the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'？"

　　"Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive， it comes to the same thing for us，" said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."

　　"But what does that mean-- 'ephemeral'？" repeated the little prince， who never in his life had let go of a question， once he had asked it.

　　"It means， 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'"

　　"Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance？"

　　"Certainly it is."

　　"My flower is ephemeral，" the little prince said to himself， "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet， all alone！"

　　That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.

　　"What place would you advise me to visit now？" he asked.

　　"The planet Earth，" replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."

　　And the little prince went away， thinking of his flower.

　　第六顆行星則要大十倍。上面住著一位老先生，他在寫作大部頭的書。

　　“瞧！來了一位探險(xiǎn)家。”老先生看到小王子時(shí)，叫了起來。

　　小王子在桌旁坐下，有點(diǎn)氣喘吁吁。他跑了多少路��！

　　“你從哪里來的呀？”老先生問小王子。

　　“這一大本是什么書？你在這里干什么？”小王子問道。

　　“我是地理學(xué)家。”老先生答道。

　　“什么是地理學(xué)家？”

　　“地理學(xué)家，就是一種學(xué)者，他知道哪里有海洋，哪里有江河、城市、山脈、沙漠。”

　　“這倒挺有意思。”小王子說。“這才是一種真正的行當(dāng)。”他朝四周圍看了看這位地理學(xué)家的星球。他還從來沒有見過一顆如此壯觀的行星。

　　“您的星球真美呀。上面有海洋嗎？”

　　“這我沒法知道。”地理學(xué)家說。

　　“�。�”小王子大失所望。“那么，山脈呢？”

　　“這，我沒法知道。”地理學(xué)家說。

　　“那么，有城市、河流、沙漠嗎？”

　　“這，我也沒法知道。”地理學(xué)家說。

　　“可您還是地理學(xué)家呢！”

　　“一點(diǎn)不錯(cuò)，”地理學(xué)家說，“但是我不是探察家。我手下一個(gè)探察家都沒有。地理學(xué)家是不去計(jì)算城市、河流、山脈、海洋、沙漠的。地理學(xué)家很重要，不能到處跑。他不能離開他的辦公室。但他可以在辦公室里接見探察家。他詢問探察家，把他們的回憶記錄下來。如果他認(rèn)為其中有個(gè)探察家的回憶是有意思的，那么地理學(xué)家就對(duì)這個(gè)探察家的品德做一番調(diào)查。”

　　“這是為什么呢？”

　　“因?yàn)橐粋�(gè)說假話的探察家會(huì)給地理書帶來災(zāi)難性的后果。同樣，一個(gè)太愛喝酒的探察家也是如此。”

　　“這又是為什么？”小王子說。

　　“因?yàn)楹茸砹司频娜税岩粋�(gè)看成兩個(gè)，那么，地理學(xué)家就會(huì)把只有一座山的地方寫成兩座山。”

　　“我認(rèn)識(shí)一個(gè)人，他要是搞探察的話，就很可能是個(gè)不好的探察員。”小王子說。

　　“這是可能的。因此，如果探察家的品德不錯(cuò)，就對(duì)他的發(fā)現(xiàn)進(jìn)行調(diào)查。”

　　“去看一看嗎？”

　　“不。那太復(fù)雜了。但是要求探察家提出證據(jù)來。例如，假使他發(fā)現(xiàn)了一座大山，就要求他帶來一些大石頭。”

　　地理學(xué)家忽然忙亂起來。

　　“正好，你是從老遠(yuǎn)來的么！你是個(gè)探察家！你來給我介紹一下你的星球吧！”

　　于是，已經(jīng)打開登記簿的地理學(xué)家，削起他的鉛筆來。他首先是用鉛筆記下探察家的敘述，等到探察家提出了證據(jù)以后再用墨水筆記下來。

　　“怎么樣？”地理學(xué)家詢問道。

　　“��！我那里，”小王子說道，“沒有多大意思，那兒很小。我有三座火山，兩座是活的，一座是熄滅了的。但是也很難說。”

　　“很難說。”地理學(xué)家說道。

　　“我還有一朵花。”

　　“我們是不記載花卉的。”地理學(xué)家說。

　　“這是為什么？花是最美麗的東西。”

　　“因?yàn)榛ɑ苁嵌虝旱摹?rdquo;

　　“什么叫短暫？”

　　“地理學(xué)書籍是所有書中最嚴(yán)肅的書。”地理學(xué)家說道，“這類書是從不會(huì)過時(shí)的。很少會(huì)發(fā)生一座山變換了位置，很少會(huì)出現(xiàn)一個(gè)海洋干涸的現(xiàn)象。我們要寫永恒的東西。”

　　“但是熄滅的火山也可能會(huì)再?gòu)?fù)蘇的。”小王子打斷了地理學(xué)家。“什么叫短暫？”

　　“火山是熄滅了的也好，蘇醒的也好，這對(duì)我們這些人來講都是一回事。”地理學(xué)家說，“對(duì)我們來說，重要的是山。山是不會(huì)變換位置的。”

　　“但是，‘短暫’是什么意思？”小王子再三地問道。他一旦提出一個(gè)問題是從不放過的。

　　“意思就是：有很快就會(huì)消失的危險(xiǎn)。”

　　“我的花是很快就會(huì)消失的嗎？”

　　“那當(dāng)然。”

　　小王子自言自語(yǔ)地說：“我的花是短暫的，而且她只有四根刺來防御外侮！可我還把她獨(dú)自留在家里！”

　　這是他第一次產(chǎn)生了后悔，但他又重新振作起來：

　　“您是否能建議我去看些什么？”小王子問道。

　　“地球這顆行星，”地理學(xué)家回答他說，“它的名望很高…”

　　于是小王子就走了，他一邊走一邊想著他的花。