作品名：《小王子》（The Little Prince）
原作者：[法]安托万·德·圣·埃克苏佩里（Antoine de Saint-Exupéry）
Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
在我六岁的时候，读过一本描写原始森林的书，名为《真实的自然故事》，这本书中附有精彩的插画，其中有一张描绘着一条大蟒蛇正张着血盆大口吞噬猎物的景象。
蟒蛇猎食图
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
书中说道：“蟒蛇无需咀嚼就将猎物整个吞食，之后由于吃撑了无法爬行，只能通过长达六个月的睡眠来使腹中食物得以消化。”
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:
我对丛林冒险故事的感触颇深，于是，我拿起彩色铅笔顺利完成了首幅画作。如图所示：
蟒蛇吞象外观图
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"
我在大人们面前展示自己的杰作，并询问他们是否感到画面恐怖。然而他们却回答说：“恐怖？怎么会有人觉得一顶帽子恐怖？”
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:
我画的并不是帽子，而是一条正在消化一头大象的蟒蛇。由于大人们无法看懂这幅画，因此我创作了第二幅：我描绘出巨蟒腹中的情况，以便大人们能够准确地理解它。实在没辙，他们总是需要让人多费唇舌。于是我的第二号作品成了这样：
蟒蛇吞象透视图
The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
这次，大人们的回应是劝我放下这些奇形怪状的蟒蛇图画，并将兴趣放在地理、历史、数学和语法等课程上。如此一来，在六岁的时候，我打消了加入画家这一美好职业的念头。我因为一号和二号作品的失败倍觉伤感。大人们对事情一无所知，反而要孩子三番五次地解释，实在令我觉得索然无味。
So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.
后来，我从事另一份职业，那就是学习驾驶飞机。我几乎飞遍世界各个角落，而地理知识也确实让我受益良多，我能一眼分辨中国和亚利桑那。如果在夜里迷失方向，这类知识还蛮有用武之地。
In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.
在这样的日子里，我接触过许多人，这些人多数只关心重要之事。我长期置身于成年人的圈子里，并且可以熟络地对他们进行近在咫尺的观察，但这些并没有让我对他们有所改观。
Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:
"That is a hat."
每当我遇上某位像极了豁达先生的人，我便小心翼翼拿出我那始终保留的第一号作品。我倒想看看，这样的人是否真的别具慧眼。可惜，无论男女，他们总会说：
“那是一顶帽子。”
Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.
从那以后，我便不再与人提起蟒蛇、丛林和星辰，而只能俯而就之，与他们谈论玩牌，打球，参政以及着装等话题。而这些恰能投其所好，甚至让他们认为我是一个通情达理的人！
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