第十五章[第1页/共6页]

“那么，有都会、河道、戈壁吗？”

"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 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"

"Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.

“你从那里来的呀？”老先生问小王子。

“这是为甚么呢？”

"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 around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.

“那当然。”

“我不晓得。”地理学家说。

“可您还是地理学家呢！”

“地理学册本是最松散的书。”地理学家说道，“这类书是从不会过期。很少会产生一座山变更位置，很少会呈现一个陆地干枯的征象。我们记录永久的东西。”