介绍:
第九章：奇怪的国王
He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330.
在附近的宇宙中，还有325、326、327、328、329、330等几颗小行星。
He began, therefore, by visiting them, in order to add to his knowledge.
于是，他开始访问这几颗星球，丰富一下自己的知识。
The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.
第一颗星球上住着一个国王。国王穿着用紫红色和白底黑花的毛皮做成的大礼服，坐在一个很简单却又十分威严的宝座上。
"Ah! Here is a subject," exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming.
当他看见小王子时，喊了起来：“啊，来了一个臣民。”
And the little prince asked himself: "How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?"
小王子思量着：“他从来也没有见过我，怎么会认识我呢？”
He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects.
他哪里知道，在那些国王的眼里，世界是非常简单的：所有的人都是臣民。
"Approach, so that I may see you better," said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.
国王十分骄傲，因为他终于成了某个人的国王。他对小王子说道，“靠近些，好让我好好看看你。”
The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe.
小王子看看四周，想找个地方坐下来，可是整个星球被国王华丽的白底黑花皮袍占满了。
So he remained standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned.
他只好站在那里，但是因为疲倦了，他打起哈欠来。
"It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king," the monarch said to him. "I forbid you to do so."
这个君王对他斥责道，“在一个国王面前打哈欠是违反礼节的。我禁止你打哈欠。”
"I can't help it. I can't stop myself," replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. "I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep . . ."
小王子羞愧地说道: “我实在忍不住,我长途跋涉来到这里，还没来得及睡觉……”
"Ah, then," the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order."
国王说：“那好吧，我命令你打哈欠。我好多年都没有看见过任何人打哈欠了。对我来说，打哈欠倒是新奇的事。来吧！再打个哈欠！这是命令。”
"That frightens me . . . I cannot, any more . . ." murmured the little prince, now completely abashed.
“这倒叫我有点紧张……我打不出哈欠来了……”小王子红着脸说。
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king. "Then I--I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to--"
国王回答道：“嗯！嗯！ 那么我——我命令你忽而打哈欠，忽而……”
He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed.
他嘟嘟囔囔，显得有点恼怒。
For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected.
因为国王所要求的主要是保持他的威严受到尊敬。
He tolerated no disobedience.
他不能容忍不听他的命令。
He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.
他是一位绝对的君主。可是，他却很善良，他下的命令都是理智的。
"If I ordered a general," he would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault."
他常常说：“如果我叫一位将军变成一只海鸟，而这位将军不服从我的命令，那么这就不是将军的过错，而是我的过错。“
"May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.
小王子腼腆地问道：“我可以坐下吗？”
"I order you to do so," the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.
“我命令你坐下。”国王一边回答，一边庄重地把他那白底黑花皮袍大襟挪动了一下。
But the little prince was wondering . . . The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?
可是小王子感到很奇怪……这么小的行星，国王能对什么进行统治呢？
"Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question-"
他对国王说：“陛下，请原谅，我想问您一个问题……”
"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.
国王急忙抢着说道：“我命令你问我！”
"Sire--over what do you rule?"
“陛下……你统治着什么呢？”
"Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity.
国王非常简单明了地说：“我统治着一切。”
"Over everything?"
“一切？”
The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars.
国王轻轻地用手指着他的行星和其他的行星，以及所有的星星。
"Over all that?" asked the little prince.
“统治着这一切？” 小王子问道。
"Over all that," the king answered.
“统治这一切。”国王回答道。
For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.
原来他不仅是一个绝对的君主，而且是整个宇宙的君主。
"And the stars obey you?"
“那么，星星都服从您吗？”
"Certainly they do," the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."
“那当然！ 它们立即就得服从。我是不允许任何违抗的。” 国王对他说。
Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at.
这样的权力使小王子惊叹不已。
If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, without ever having to move his chair.
如果掌握了这样的权力，那么，他一天就不只是看到四十四次日落，而可以看到七十二次，甚至一百次，或是二百次日落，也不必要去挪动椅子了！
And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor: "I should like to see a sunset . . . Do me that kindness . . . Order the sun to set . . ."
由于他想起了他那被遗弃的小星球，心里有点难过，他大胆地向国王提出了一个请求：“我想看日落……请求您……命令太阳落山吧!”
"If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?" the king demanded. "The general, or myself?"
国王说道：“如果我命令一个将军象一只蝴蝶那样从这朵花飞到那朵花，或者命令他写作一个悲剧剧本或者变一只海鸟，而如果这位将军接到命令不执行的话，那么，是他不对还是我不对呢？”
"You," said the little prince firmly.
“那当然是您的不对。”小王子肯定地回答。
"Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on.
“一点也不错，”国王接着说，“向每个人提出的要求应该是他们所能做到的。”
"Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."
“权威首先应该建立在理性的基础上。如果命令你的老百姓去投海，他们非起来革命不可。正因为我的命令是合理的，所以我才有权要别人服从。”
"Then my sunset?" the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.
“那么我提出的日落呢？”小王子一旦提出一个问题，他是不会忘记这个问题的。
"You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But, according to my science of government, I shall wait until conditions are favorable."
“日落么，你会看到的。我一定会命令太阳落山，不过按照我的统治科学，我得等到条件成熟的时候。”
"When will that be?" inquired the little prince.
小王子问道：“这要等到什么时候呢？”
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. "Hum! Hum! That will be about--about--that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed!"
国王在回答之前，首先翻阅了一本厚厚的日历，嘴里慢慢说道：“嗯！嗯！日落大约…大约…在今晚七时四十分的时候！你将看到我的命令一定会被服从的。”
The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then, too, he was already beginning to be a little bored.
小王子又打起哈欠来了。他遗憾没有看到日落。他也有点厌烦了。
"I have nothing more to do here," he said to the king. "So I shall set out on my way again."
他就对国王说：“我没有必要再呆在这儿了。我要走了。”
"Do not go," said the king, who was very proud of having a subject. "Do not go. I will make you a Minister!"
这位因为刚刚有了一个臣民而十分骄傲自得的国王说道：“别走，别走，我任命你当大臣！”
"Minister of what?"
“什么大臣？”
"Minster of--of Justice!"
“嗯…司法大臣！”
"But there is nobody here to judge!"
"We do not know that," the king said to him. "I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk."
(因字数限制，后面的翻译已删，全文可关注公号:说英语故事的面包树)
"Oh, but I have looked already!" said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet. On that side, as on this, there was nobody at all . . .
"Then you shall judge yourself," the king answered. "that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom."
"Yes," said the little prince, "but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet.
"Hum! Hum!" said the king. "I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have."
"I," replied the little prince, "do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way."
"No," said the king.
But the little prince, having now completed his preparations for departure, had no wish to grieve the old monarch.
" If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed," he said, "he should be able to give me a reasonable order. He should be able, for example, to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favorable . . ."
As the king made no answer, the little prince hesitated a moment. Then, with a sigh, he took his leave.
"I make you my Ambassador," the king called out, hastily. He had a magnificent air of authority.
"The grown-ups are very strange," the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
背景音乐：Lullaby
by: Morrie （韩）
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