I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.
“The thorns—what use are they?”
The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it. As for me, I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:
“The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!”
〖精读笔记〗
be busy (in) doing sth.意为忙于做某事
try to do sth.设法做某事,侧重努力
unscrew [ˌʌnˈskruː] vt.旋开；旋松；从...旋出螺丝
bolt [bəʊlt] n.螺栓，螺钉
get stuck in陷入了…
engine [ˈendʒɪn] n.引擎，发动机
breakdown [ˈbreɪkdaʊn] n.故障；崩溃；分解
extremely [ɪkˈstriːmli] adv.非常，极其
drinking-water 饮用水
fear for sb./sth. 为某人/某事担忧、关心或焦急
once 用作连词，此处引导条件状语从句，意为“一旦”“一...就”，它常常表示从句中的动作已完成，所以once从句常使用现在完成时。
upset[ʌpˈset] adj. 心烦的；难过的
spite[ɪkˈstriːmli] n. 恶意
