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[ Chapter 8 ]
I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince‘s planet the
flowers had always been very simple.
They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all;
they were a trouble to nobody. One morning they would appear in the
grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away.
But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up;
and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet.
It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.
But the shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower.
The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once
that some sort of miraculous （奇迹般的）apparition must emerge from it.
But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber.
She chose her colours with the greatest care. She dressed herself slowly, she adjusted her petals one by one.
She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies.
It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear.
Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.
Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.
And, after working with all this painstaking（煞费苦心的） precision, she yawned and said:
"Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all
disarranged..."
But the little prince could not restrain （抑制）his admiration:
"Oh! How beautiful you are!"
"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly. "And I was born at the same
moment as the sun..."
The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest--
but how moving-- and exciting-- she was!
"I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later. "If you would have
the kindness to think of my needs--"
And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can（喷壶） of
fresh water. So, he tended the flower.
So, too, she began very quickly to torment（折磨） him with her vanity（虚荣）-- which was, if
the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with.
One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:
"Let the tigers come with their claws!"
"There are no tigers on my planet," the little prince objected. "And, anyway,
tigers do not eat weeds."
"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.
"Please excuse me..."
"I am not at all afraid of tigers," she went on, "but I have a horror of drafts. I
suppose you wouldn‘t have a screen for me?"
"A horror of drafts-- that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and
added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature..."
"At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you
live. In the place I came from--"
But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed.
She could not have known anything of any other worlds.
Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naive untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.
"The screen?"
"I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me..."
Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse
just the same.
So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his
love, had soon come to doubt her.
He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.
"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided（吐露秘密） to me one day.
"One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their
fragrance.
Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace.
This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."
And he continued his confidences（知心话）:
"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything!
I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words.
She cast her fragrance（芳香） and her radiance（光辉） over me.
I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection
that lay behind her poor little strategems.
Flowers are so inconsistent（前后矛盾的）！ But I was too young to know how to love her..."
好啦，英文原版的朗读到这里就结束了，下面我们一起来学习一下本章节的重点词汇和句型。
1. The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber.
小王子眼看着它长出一个很大很大的花蕾，心想花蕾绽放开来一定很奇妙。可这朵花儿待在绿色的花萼里面呢，磨磨蹭蹭地打扮个没完。 （这一句里，小王子对花蕾绽放的期待和花儿磨磨蹭蹭的打扮形成对比。）
小王子用miraculous apparition形容即将出现的花朵，第二章里作者也用到apparition形容小王子的突然出现。 像 “ 幽灵 ” 一样，十分生动形象。
was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty 说明花儿为了绽放做了很多准备，这也给后面一句 （为了结合上下文理解要剧透了噢）“ I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still disarranged ” (真对不起… 我的花瓣还是乱蓬蓬的…) 相对应。大家可以联想一下日常生活中会发生的事情，就像一个出门前化妆画了3个小时的妹子，见到喜欢的人时还是说：“不好意思今天太忙了没怎么打扮~”。妹子们不都这样吗，懂了吧~
「emerge from」：“从某处冒出来”。
「green chamber」：就花苞外面那层绿色的叶子了，前面的shelter是“ 为花苞提供保护 ”的意思。
2. So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity-- which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with. 花儿开始用她的虚荣心来折磨小王子，让他不胜其烦。
「torment」动词“折磨，使痛苦”
「vanity」名词“虚荣浮华”，美国有本很著名的文化杂志叫做《名利场》，就用到了这个单词：Vanity Fair
「If the truth be known」大家不必过于纠结这个结构，其实这是个偏口语化的短语，换种说法就是I have to admit，就是说这个 “ 必须得承认是个事实 ”，理解时这句可以不必翻译出来。
3. “I am not at all afraid of tigers,” she went on, “but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn’t have a screen for me?”
「have a horror of sth.」“ 对某物害怕 ”。
玫瑰说自己不怕老虎，但是怕风（drafts），希望小王子可以给自己弄一个屏风（screen），其实听到这些，小王子已经觉得玫瑰有些矫情了呢，但是他这时候还不知道这只是女孩子希望对方能多照顾自己一些的小心思。
4. Embarrassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naive untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.
她恍然大悟到自己差点说出幼稚的谎言，她又羞又恼，就咳了两三声嗽，想让小王子觉得理亏。
「on the verge of」“在…的边缘”，on the verge of such a naive untruth，在幼稚谎言的边缘
再结合caught-被抓到，也就不难理解啦，也就是玫瑰差点被小王子抓到自己说出幼稚的谎言。
那么到底是什么样儿的谎言呢？就是这个啦“It’s very could where you live. In the place where I came from…玫瑰可是一粒种子来的来着，她根本不知道自己来的地方到底是怎么样的。
接下来也就不难理解了，跟人类一样，尴尬的时候怎么破，使劲儿咳嗽来转移注意力呗！
5. Mine perfumed all the planet.
「mine」当然就是my flower／my rose的意思啦
「perfume」常作名词“香味，香水”的意思，这里是动词“使…充满香味”，这句意思也就是：我的花儿让我的星球充满了香味。其实玫瑰还是给小王子带来幸福感的。我想这也是后文小王子觉得后悔的原因吧。
6. Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.
「force」是强迫，促使的意思，这里结合cough a little more，也就是玫瑰咳嗽得更厉害了一些。
「…so that…」表示“这样一来”
「remorse」“自责，羞愧”
玫瑰咳嗽得更厉害了，目的是为了让小王子觉得自责，「just the same」这里结合上文，也就是说，我刚才撒谎了，被发现了，我很难受，但是不能我一个人难受，所以你也要一起难受（内疚）！！（这zuo zuo的形象真得是跃然纸上啊）
7. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."
这句要把握「tenderness」和「pity」。这两个词就可以让读者感受到此时小王子内心的悔意。Tenderness指的当然是小王子每每想起玫瑰的时候，自己内心就泛起了爱情的甜蜜。这句让我想到王小波写给李银河的信：一想到你,我这张丑脸上就泛起微笑。
而pity则说的是小王子一开始以为玫瑰说自己不怕老虎爪子的事情是为了炫耀，但其实这只是小女生的矫情，只是当时自己没有理解，现在后悔了呢。
不得不说，这两个词放在一起实在是很精妙～
8. “I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her… I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her…”
还记得嘛，前面小王子觉得觉得玫瑰“torment him with her vanity”（用她的虚荣心来折磨我）， 而现在却理解了这其实是“affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems”——她那小小花招背后的一片柔情 ,这里明显看到小王子变得成熟了一些，他更加懂得女生的心里了。 我本该猜到她那小小花招背后的一片柔情。花儿总是这么表里不一！可是我太年轻还不懂得怎么去爱她。这样的感悟是不是也很像我们在失去某个人之后的心情呢？
这里插播一个背景知识，许多研究者都认为，小王子那多任性、自负的玫瑰花其实就是作者的妻子——来自古巴萨尔瓦多的Consuelo，所以文中的玫瑰不知道自己来自何方，就是因为萨尔瓦多也是一个小地方（又被称为“火山之地”）。这位妻子是一名寡妇，生活奢侈，虚荣自负，作者为了提供她的生活保障，需要写很多东西来赚取稿费。虽然她因为自己的虚荣让作者的生活更加不堪，但是作者依然很喜欢她。
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