小王子 第8期:B612小行星

I had thus learned a second fact of great importance:

我還了解到另一件重要的事，

this was that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger than a house!

就是他老家所在的那個星球比一座房子大不了多少。

But that did not really surprise me much.

這倒并沒有使我感到太奇怪。

I knew very well that in addition to the great planets–such as the Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Venus–to which we have given names,

我知道除地球、木星、火星、金星這幾個有名稱的大行星以外，

there are also hundreds of others, some of which are so small that,one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope.

還有成百個別的星球，它們有的小得很，就是用望遠鏡也很難看見。

When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name, but only a number.

當一個天文學者發(fā)現(xiàn)了其中一個星星，他就給它編上一個號碼。

He might call it, for example, "Asteroid 325."

例如把它稱作“325小行星”。

I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612.

我有重要的根據(jù)認為小王子所來自的那個星球是小行星B612。

This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.

這顆小行星僅僅在1909年被一個土耳其天文學家用望遠鏡看見過一次。

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the InternationalAstronomical Congress, in a great demonstration.

當時他曾經(jīng)在一次國際天文學家代表大會上對他的發(fā)現(xiàn)作了重要的論證。

But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said.

但由于他所穿衣服的緣故，那時沒有人相信他。

小王子.jpg

Grown-ups are like that

那些大人們就是這樣。

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612,

幸好，土耳其的一個獨裁者，為了小行星B612的聲譽，

a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume.

迫使他的人民都要穿歐式服裝，否則就處以死刑。

So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again, dressed with impressive style and elegance.

1920年，這位天文學家穿了一身非常漂亮的服裝，重新作了一次論證。

And this time everybody accepted his report.

這一次所有的人都同意他的看法。

If I have told you these details about the asteroid, and made a note of its number for you, it is on account of the grown-ups and their ways.

我給你們講關(guān)于小行星B612的這些細節(jié)，并且告訴你們它的編號，這是由于這些大人的緣故。