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[ Chapter 12 ]
The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all.
There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter（点街灯的人）.
The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people, and not one house.
But he said to himself, nevertheless: "It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king, the conceited（自负的） man, the businessman, and the tippler.
For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower.
When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep.
That is a beautiful occupation（职业）. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful."
When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.
"Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?"
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter. "Good morning."
"What are the orders?"
"The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening."
And he lighted his lamp again.
"But why have you just lighted it again?"
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter.
"I do not understand," said the little prince.
"There is nothing to understand," said the lamplighter.
"Orders are orders. Good morning."
And he put out his lamp.
Then he mopped（擦汗） his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.
"I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable.
I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again.
I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep."
"And the orders have been changed since that time?"
"The orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter.
"That is the tragedy!
From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"
"Then what?" asked the little prince.
"Then-- the planet now makes a complete turn every minute, and I no longer have a single second for repose（休息）.
Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!"
"That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!"
"It is not funny at all!" said the lamplighter.
"While we have been talking together a month has gone by."
"A month?"
"Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening."
And he lighted his lamp again.
As the little prince watched him, he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders.
He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek, in other days, merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend.
"You know," he said,
"I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to..."
"I always want to rest," said the lamplighter.
For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time.
The little prince went on with his explanation:
"Your planet is so small that three strides（大步） will take you all the way around it.
To be always in the sunshine, you need only walk along rather slowly.
When you want to rest, you will walk-- and the day will last as long as you like."
"That doesn‘t do me much good," said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."
"Then you‘re unlucky," said the little prince.
"I am unlucky," said the lamplighter. "Good morning."
And he put out his lamp.
"That man," said the little prince to himself, as he continued farther on his journey, "that man would be scorned by all the others:by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman.
Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous.
Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself."
He breathed a sigh of regret, and said to himself, again:"That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend.
But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people..."
What the little prince did not dare confess（承认） was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet, because it was blest every day with（每天都享有…） 1440 sunsets!
The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one.
It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
"Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.
The little prince sat down on the table and panted(喘气) a little.
He had already traveled so much and so far!
"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him.
"What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
"I am a geographer," the old gentleman said to him.
"What is a geographer?" asked the little prince.
"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts."
"That is very interesting," said the little prince.
"Here at last is a man who has a real profession!"
And he cast a look（看了一眼） around him at the planet of the geographer.
It was the most magnificent and stately（雄伟的） planet that he had ever seen.
"Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?"
"I couldn‘t tell you," said the geographer.
"Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"
"I couldn‘t tell you," said the geographer.
"And towns, and rivers, and deserts?"
"I couldn‘t tell you that, either."
"But you are a geographer!"
"Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer.
I haven‘t a single explorer on my planet.
It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts.
The geographer is much too important to go loafing about.
He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study.
He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall（回忆） of their travels.
And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him,the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer‘s moral character."
"Why is that?"
"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer.
So would an explorer who drank too much."
"Why is that?" asked the little prince.
"Because intoxicated（喝醉的） men see double（重影）.
Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one."
"I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer." That is possible.
Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery."
"One goes to see it?"
"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs.
For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."（1120words）
-重点句子解析-
1. When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower. When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful.
「bring sb. to life」：“ 使苏醒、复活 ”。
「send sb. to sleep」：“ 让某人去睡觉 ”。
这几句话还是比较好理解哒，意思是：当他点亮路灯时，他就像赋予了一颗星星或一朵花儿生命， 而当他熄灭路灯时，就像让花儿或星星入睡。这个差事其实很美好。既然很美好，就是有意义的。（这就是小王子单纯的逻辑。美即正义。）
2. That man would be scorned by all the others: by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.
因为点灯人关心的不是自己，而是别的事，因此会被其他人瞧不起 ( be scorned by) ；但在小王子看来是唯一一个不可笑的 (ridiculous) 。
这里就需要结合前两天的内容来理解了，小王子在之前的星球遇到的人，做的事情在小王子看来都是可笑的，都是没有意义的，唯独今天遇到的点灯人，是他看来唯一不可笑的，因为他做的事是有意义的。
3. He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek. In other days, merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend.
他回想起自己从前拖着椅子去赶日落的情形。他已经把眼前的此人视为朋友，他想要帮助他。
「he himself」 : himself 加在和后面表示强调，强调他本人。举个例子：You yourself said no. 你自己说不要的。如果想强调I，也可以说I myself.
4. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer’s moral character.
他问探险家问题，把他们的回忆记录下来。如果他认为其中有个是有意思的，那么地理学家就对这个探险家的品德做一番调查。
「note down」：“ 记录 ”。
「order an inquiry into」：“ 调查 ”。inquiry一般指的是政治、法律上比较官方的调查，作者用在这里也是一种讽刺，地理学家所说的那些 “ 永恒的事物 ”，山川或者湖泊，其实也没有一朵花重要。
5. Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much.
“Why is that?”
“Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one.”
大家在读的时候一定要结合上下文，不要遇到不懂的句子就停下来哟～
「So would an explorer」这里很多同学有疑惑，不明白would的用法，举个小栗子：I like apples.我喜欢苹果。如果你要说“我也是”，就是So do I，所以这里的大意就是：撒谎的探险家会给地理学家的记录带来灾难，喝醉酒的探险家也一样。
撒谎的人和喝醉的人不能成为探险家，为什么呢？因为 intoxicated men see double.（喝醉的人看什么都是重影，都是两个的），同样的地理学家就会把只有一座山的地方记录成两座山，这就是带来的 disaster。
好啦，这就是我们Chapter 12的学习内容，不知道大家都听懂了没有呢？那么在节目中呢我们也会给出大家英文原文还有这些重点句子的解析内容，希望大家在听完之后一定要再自己读一遍，同时呢记住这些重点的词汇和句型，这对英语学习是非常重要的，一定一定要自己再读一遍哦。好啦，我们本期的讲解就到这里啦，如果大家有什么意见和问题的话欢迎大家随时跟我联系，如果你喜欢我们的节目的话也请点赞和分享哦。今天就这样啦，我们下期再会喽。
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