第十四章[第1页/共5页]

"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 was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet, because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets!

"Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp""Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter. "Good morning.""What are the orders"

“我不明白。”小王子说。

因而他又点着了他的路灯。

“早上好。这是号令。”点灯人答复道。

“真不交运。”点灯人说，“早上好。”

“那么，厥后号令窜改了，是吗？”

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. 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 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. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful."When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.