So I lived all alone, without anyone I could really talk to, until I had to make a crash landing in the Sahara Desert six years ago. Something in my plane's engine had broken. Since I had neither a mechanic nor passengers in the plane with me, I was preparing to undertake the difficult repair job by myself. For me it was a matter of life or death: I had only enough drinking water for eight days.

我就这样孤独地生活着，没有一个能真正谈得来的人，一直到六年前在撒哈拉沙漠上发生了那次故障。我的发动机里有个东西损坏了。当时由于我既没有带机械师也没有带旅客，我就试图独自完成这个困难的维修工作。这对我来说是个生与死的问题。我随身带的水只够饮用八天。

The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand a thousand miles from any inhabited country. I was more isolated than a man shipwrecked on a raft in the middle of the ocean. So you can imagine my surprise when I was awakened at daybreak by a funny little voice saying, "Please... draw me a sheep..."

"What?"

"Draw me a sheep..."

第一天晚上我就睡在这远离人间烟火的大沙漠上。我比大海中伏在小木排上的遇难者还要孤独得多。而在第二天拂晓，当一个奇怪的小声音叫醒我的时候，你们可以想见我当时是多么吃惊。这小小的声音说道：“请你给我画一只羊，好吗？”

“啊！”

“给我画一只羊……”

I leaped up as if I had been struck by lightning. I rubbed my eyes hard. I stared. And I saw an extraordinary little fellow staring back at me very seriously. Here is the best portrait I managed to make of him, later on.

我像是受到惊雷轰击一般，一下子就站立起来。我使劲地揉了揉眼睛，仔细地看了看。我看见一个十分奇怪的小家伙严肃地朝我凝眸望着。这是后来我给他画出来的最好的一幅画像。

But of course my drawing is much less attractive than my model. This is not my fault. My career as a painter was discouraged at the age of six by the grown-ups, and I had never learned to draw anything except boa constrictors, outside and inside.

可是，我的画当然要比他本人的模样逊色得多。这不是我的过错。六岁时，大人们使我对我的画家生涯失去了勇气，除了画过开着肚皮和闭着肚皮的蟒蛇，后来再没有学过画。

So I stared wide-eyed at this apparition. Don't forget that I was a thousand miles from any inhabited territory. Yet this little fellow seemed to be neither lost nor dying of exhaustion, hunger, or thirst; nor did he seem scared to death. There was nothing in his appearance that suggested a child lost in the middle of the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited territory.

我惊奇地睁大着眼睛看着这突然出现的小家伙。你们不要忘记，我当时处在远离人烟千里之外的地方。而这个小家伙给我的印象是，他既不像迷了路的样子，也没有半点疲乏、饥渴、惧怕的神情。他丝毫不像是一个迷失在旷无人烟的大沙漠中的孩子。

When I finally managed to speak, I asked him, "But... what are you doing here?"

当我在惊讶之中终于又能说出话来的时候，对他说道：“唉，你在这儿干什么？”

And then he repeated, very slowly and very seriously, "Please... draw me a sheep..."

可是他却不慌不忙地好像有一件重要的事一般，对我重复地说道：“请……给我画一只羊……”

In the face of an overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey. Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from all inhabited regions and in danger of death, I took a scrap of paper and a pen out of my pocket. But then I remembered that I had mostly studied geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little fellow (rather crossly) that I didn't know how to draw.

当一种神秘的东西把你镇住的时候，你是不敢不听从它的支配的，在这旷无人烟的沙漠上，面临死亡的危险的情况下，尽管这样的举动使我感到十分荒诞，我还是掏出了一张纸和一支钢笔。这时我却又记起，我只学过地理、历史、算术和语法，就有点不大高兴地对小家伙说我不会画画。

He replied, "That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep."

他回答我说：“没有关系，给我画一只羊吧！”

Since I had never drawn a sheep, I made him one of the only two drawings I knew how to make - the one of the boa constrictor from outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow answer:

因为我从来没有画过羊，我就给他重画我所仅仅会画的两幅画中的那幅闭着肚皮的巨蟒。我听了他的话，简直目瞪口呆。

"No! No! I don't want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is very dangerous, and an elephant would get in the way. Where I live, everything is very small. I need a sheep. Draw me a sheep."

“不，不！我不要蟒蛇，它肚子里还有一头象。巨蟒这东西太危险，大象又太占地方。我住的地方非常小，我需要一只羊。给我画一只羊吧。”

So then I made a drawing.

He looked at it carefully, and then said, "No. This one is already quite sick. Make another."

I made another drawing. My friend gave me a kind, indulgent smile:

"You can see for yourself... that's not a sheep, it's a ram. It has horns..."

So I made my third drawing, but it was rejected, like the others:

"This one's too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time."

我就给他画了。

他专心地看着，随后又说：“我不要，这只羊已经病得很重了。给我重新画一只。”

我又画了起来。 我的这位朋友天真可爱地笑了，并且客气地拒绝道：

“你看，你画的不是小羊，是头公羊，还有犄角呢。”

于是我又重新画了一张。 这幅画同前几幅一样又被拒绝了。

“这一只太老了。我想要一只能活得长的羊。”

So then, impatiently, since I was in a hurry to start work on my engine, I scribbled this drawing, and added, "This is just the crate. The sheep you want is inside."

But I was amazed to see my young critic's face light up.

"That's just the kind I wanted! Do you think this sheep will need a lot of grass?"

"Why?"

"Because where I live, everything is very small..."

"There's sure to be enough. I've given you a very small sheep."

He bent over the drawing. "Not so small as all that..." Look! He's gone to sleep..."

And that's how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.

我不耐烦了。因为我急于要检修发动机，于是就草草画了这张画，并且匆匆地对他说道： “这是一只箱子，你要的羊就在里面。”

这时我十分惊奇地看到我的这位小评判员喜笑颜开。他说：

“这正是我想要的，……你说这只羊需要很多草吗？”

“为什么问这个呢？”

“因为我那里地方非常小……”

“我给你画的是一只很小的小羊，地方小也够喂养它的。”

他把脑袋靠近这张画。“并不像你说的那么小……瞧！它睡着了……”

就这样，我认识了小王子。