第七章[第1页/共5页]

我没答复。我当时想的是，如果这颗螺丝再和我作对，我就一锤子敲掉它。小王子又来打搅我的思路了：“你却以为花……”

“是个蘑菇！”

He looked at me there, with my hammer in my hand, my fingers black with engine-grease, bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly...

“噢！”

“几百万年以来花儿都有刺，几百万年以来绵羊都在吃带刺的花。要搞清楚为甚么花儿费那么大劲给本身长了没有甚么用的刺，这莫非不是端庄事？莫非绵羊和花之间的战役不首要？这莫非不比阿谁大瘦子红脸先生的账目更首要？如果我熟谙一朵大家间独一的花，只要我的星球上有它，别的处所都不存在，而一只小绵羊在某个早上一口就能把它毁掉，这莫非不首要？”

"And you actually believe that the flowers--""Oh, no!" I cried. "No, no no! I don’t believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don’t you see― I am very busy with matters of consequence!"He stared at me, thunderstruck.

他的脸变红了，接着说道：

他瞅着我手拿锤子，手指沾满了油污，伏在一个在他看来丑不成言的机件上。

The little prince was now white with rage.

Chapter 7

"Matters of consequence!"

“它碰到甚么吃甚么。”

On the fifth day― again, as always, it was thanks to the sheep― the secret of the little prince’s life was revealed to me. Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:"A sheep― if it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too""A sheep," I answered, "eats anything it finds in its reach.""Even flowers that have thorns""Yes, even flowers that have thorns.""Then the thorns― what use are they"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.