小王子 第26期:審判自己

"Do not go," said the king, who was very proud of having a subject. "Do not go. I will make you a Minister!"

這位因為剛剛有了一個臣民而十分驕傲自得的國王說道：“別走，別走。我任命你當大臣。”

Minister of what?

什么大臣?

Minster of–of Justice!

嗯……司法大臣!

But there is nobody here to judge!

可是，這兒沒有一個要審判的人。

"We do not know that," the king said to him. "I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom."

“很難說呀，”國王說道。“因此我還沒有巡視過我的王國呢!”

I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage.

我很老了，我這地方又小，沒有放鑾駕的地方，

And it tires me to walk.

另外，一走路我就累。

"Oh, but I have looked already!" said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet.

“噢!可是我已經(jīng)看過了。”小王子說道，并探身朝星球的那一側看了看。

On that side, as on this, there was nobody at all...

那邊也沒有一個人…

"Then you shall judge yourself," the king answered. "that is the most dificult thing of all.

“那么你就審判你自己呀!”國王回答他說。“這可是最難的了。

It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.

審判自己比審判別人要難得多啊!

If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.

你要是能審判好自己，你就是一個真正有才智的人。

"Yes," said the little prince, but I can judge myself anywhere.

我嗎，隨便在什么地方我都可以審度自己。

I do not need to live on this planet.

我沒有必要留在這里。

"Hum! Hum!" said the king. "I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat."

國王又說：“嗯…嗯…我想，在我的星球上有一只老耗子。”

I hear him at night.

夜里，我聽見它的聲音。

You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death.

你可以審判它，不時地判處它死刑。

Thus his life will depend on your justice.

因此它的生命取決于你的判決。

But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily.

可是，你要有節(jié)制地使用這只耗子，每次判刑后都要赦免它。

He is the only one we have.

因為只有這一只耗子。

"I," replied the little prince, "do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way."

“可是我不愿判死刑，我想我還是應該走。”小王子回答道。

"No," said the king.

“不行。”國王說。

But the little prince, having now completed his preparations for departure, had no wish to grieve the old monarch.

但是小王子，準備完畢之后，不想使老君主難過，

"If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed," he said, "he should be able to give me a reasonable order.

說道：“如果國王陛下想要不折不扣地得到服從，你可以給我下一個合理的命令。”

He should be able, for example, to order me to be gone by the end of one minute.

比如說，你可以命令我，一分鐘之內(nèi)必須離開。

It seems to me that conditions are favorable...

我認為這個條件是成熟的…

As the king made no answer, the little prince hesitated a moment.

國王什么也沒有回答。起初，小王子有些猶疑不決，

Then, with a sigh, he took his leave.

隨后嘆了口氣，就離開了…

"I made you my Ambassador," the king called out, hastily.

“我派你當我的大使。”國王匆忙地喊道。

He had a magnificent air of authority.

國王顯出非常有權威的樣子。

"The grown-ups are very strange," the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey.

小王子在旅途中自言自語地說：“這些大人真奇怪。”