Chapter III
It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.
The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me:
"What is that object?"
"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."
And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.
He cried out, then:
"What! You dropped down from the sky?"
"Yes," I answered, modestly.
"Oh! That is funny!"
And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.
Then he added:
"So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?"
At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:
"Do you come from another planet?"
But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently, without taking his eyes from my plane:
"It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away..."
And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.
You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.
"My little man, where do you come from? What is this 'where I live,' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?"
After a reflective silence he answered:
"The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house."
"That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to."
But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:
"Tie him! What a queer idea!"
"But if you don't tie him," I said, "he will wander off somewhere, and get lost."
My friend broke into another peal of laughter:
"But where do you think he would go?"
"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."
Then the little prince said, earnestly:
"That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small!"
And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added:
"Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far..."
一、可能的生词
reveal 显示；表明；透露
words 话；话语；所写的文字
by chance 偶然；碰巧
for instance 例如
modestly 谦虚地；谦恭地；谦逊地
peal 持久响亮的声音；轰轰的响声
irritate 激怒；使恼怒；使烦躁
impenetrable 费解的；难以理解的
demand 质问
abruptly 突然地，意外地（常指令人不快的改变或行为）
toss (常表示愤怒或轻蔑地)甩(头或头发)
reverie 幻想;白日梦
contemplation 深思熟虑；沉思
curiosity 好奇心
reflective 沉思的；深思的
queer 古怪的；奇特的；异常的
wander off 漫步；闲逛；游荡
earnestly （说话）认真地，郑重其事地
a hint of 少许；微量
二、可能的难句
The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him.
小王子问了我很多问题，never seemed to hear，却看起来好像没听到我对他的任何一个提问。
It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.
这里的words已解释，就是“话语” ；drop有一个义项是“drop a hint”，是“随口说出 给出暗示”；by chance即“偶尔”。那么这个“words dropped by chance that”，就是从小王子的话中偶尔透露的信息，来一点点得知整个真相。
he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.
此句应该拆分成 bury himself in the comtemplation，把自已埋入沉思之中；是 of his treasure 因为他的宝贝（即“我”给他画的小羊）。最后译成，“他看着他的宝贝陷入沉思”。
You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets."
我们知道confidence是表示对某件事情真实性有把握，那么half-confidence，就是指“我”对于小王子来自别的星球这件事已经有一定把握的，所以更加好奇的想寻根问底。
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