1. 原文
[ Chapter3 ] the narrator learns more about from where the little prince came
It took me a long time to learn where he came from.The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little,everything was revealed to me. The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me),he asked me:"What is that object?" "That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.
He cried out,then:"What! You dropped down from the sky?" "Yes," I answered, modestly. "Oh! That is funny!" And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter,which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.
Then he added:" So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?" At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:" Do you come from another planet?" But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently, without taking his eyes from my plane:" It is true that on that you can‘t have come from very far away..." And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.
You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject. "My little man, where do you come from? What is this ‘where I live,‘ of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?" After a reflective silence he answered: "The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house." "That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to." But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:" Tie him! What a queer idea!" "But if you don‘t tie him," I said," he will wander off some where,and get lost." My friend broke into another peal of laughter:" But where do you think he would go?"
"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him." Then the little prince said, earnestly:" That doesn‘t matter. Where I live, everything is so small!" And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added: "Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far..."
2. 疑难词汇
break into a peal of laugher: 突然爆发出一长串响亮的笑声
irritate:vt. 激怒;惹怒;使...激动
a gleam of light:一束光;一线希望
reverie: n. 幻想;沉思;幻想曲
impenetrable: adj. 看不透的;捉摸不透的
toss his head: 摇头晃脑
contemplation: n. 沉思;注视;意图
string: 绳子
a hint of: 一点点;少许
3. 内容概要
这一章主要讲述作者安东尼开始进一步地了解小王子的来历。在交谈过程中,小王子更喜欢问问题,不喜欢回答问题,所以作者只能从零碎的只字片语中隐约觉得这个小人儿可能来自另一个星球,这个消息更大地激起了安东尼对小王子的好奇心。于是为了能获得更多关于小王子的信息,他故意讨好小王子,说如果你乖乖的,我可以再给你画一条绳子,这样你白天就可以用绳子栓住你的羊,不让它乱跑。结果却被小王子一阵嘲笑,说在我们那里一切都很小,能跑到哪里去呢......
4. 碎碎念
如果你真正爱一个人,那么请给Ta自由。如果Ta同样爱你,ta也不会离开你。