Chapter15 -thelittleprincevisitsthegeographer Thesixthplanetwastentimeslargerthanthelastone.Itwasinhabitedbyanoldgentlemanwhowrotevoluminousbooks. "Oh,look!Hereisanexplorer!"heexclaimedtohimselfwhenhesawthelittleprincecoming. Thelittleprincesatdownonthetableandpantedalittle.Hehadalreadytraveledsomuchandsofar! "Wheredoyoucomefrom?"theoldgentlemansaidtohim. "Whatisthatbigbook?"saidthelittleprince. "Whatareyoudoing?" "Iamageographer,"theoldgentlemansaidtohim. "Whatisageographer?"askedthelittleprince. "Ageographerisascholarwhoknowsthelocationofalltheseas,rivers,towns,mountains,anddeserts." "Thatisveryinteresting,"saidthelittleprince. "Hereatlastisamanwhohasarealprofession!"Andhecastalookaroundhimattheplanetofthegeographer.Itwasthemostmagnificentandstatelyplanetthathehadeverseen. "Yourplanetisverybeautiful,"hesaid. "Hasitanyoceans?" "Icouldn‘ttellyou,"saidthegeographer. "Ah!"Thelittleprincewasdisappointed. "Hasitanymountains?" "Icouldn‘ttellyou,"saidthegeographer. "Andtowns,andrivers,anddeserts?" "Icouldn‘ttellyouthat,either." "Butyouareageographer!" "Exactly,"thegeographersaid. "ButIamnotanexplorer.Ihaven‘tasingleexploreronmyplanet.Itisnotthegeographerwhogoesouttocountthetowns,therivers,themountains,theseas,theoceans,andthedeserts.Thegeographerismuchtooimportanttogoloafingabout.Hedoesnotleavehisdesk.Buthereceivestheexplorersinhisstudy.Heasksthemquestions,andhenotesdownwhattheyrecalloftheirtravels.Andiftherecollectionsofanyoneamongthemseeminterestingtohim,thegeographerordersaninquiryintothatexplorer‘smoralcharacter." "Whyisthat?" "Becauseanexplorerwhotoldlieswouldbringdisasteronthebooksofthegeographer.Sowouldanexplorerwhodranktoomuch." "Whyisthat?"askedthelittleprince. "Becauseintoxicatedmenseedouble.Thenthegeographerwouldnotedowntwomountainsinaplacewheretherewasonlyone." "Iknowsomeone,"saidthelittleprince, "whowouldmakeabadexplorer." "Thatispossible.Then,whenthemoralcharacteroftheexplorerisshowntobegood,aninquiryisorderedintohisdiscovery." "Onegoestoseeit?" "No.Thatwouldbetoocomplicated.Butonerequirestheexplorertofurnishproofs.Forexample,ifthediscoveryinquestionisthatofalargemountain,onerequiresthatlargestonesbebroughtbackfromit." Thegeographerwassuddenlystirredtoexcitement. "Butyou--youcomefromfaraway!Youareanexplorer!Youshalldescribeyourplanettome!" And,havingopenedhisbigregister,thegeographersharpenedhispencil.Therecitalsofexplorersareputdownfirstinpencil.Onewaitsuntiltheexplorerhasfurnishedproofs,beforeputtingthemdowninink. "Well?"saidthegeographerexpectantly. "Oh,whereIlive,"saidthelittleprince, "itisnotveryinteresting.Itisallsosmall.Ihavethreevolcanoes.Twovolcanoesareactiveandtheotherisextinct.Butoneneverknows." "Oneneverknows,"saidthegeographer. "Ihavealsoaflower." "Wedonotrecordflowers,"saidthegeographer. "Whyisthat?Thefloweristhemostbeautifulthingonmyplanet!" "Wedonotrecordthem,"saidthegeographer, "becausetheyareephemeral." "Whatdoesthatmean-- ‘ephemeral‘?" "Geographies,"saidthegeographer, "arethebookswhich,ofallbooks,aremostconcernedwithmattersofconsequence.Theyneverbecomeold-fashioned.Itisveryrarelythatamountainchangesitsposition.Itisveryrarelythatanoceanemptiesitselfofitswaters.Wewriteofeternalthings." "Butextinctvolcanoesmaycometolifeagain,"thelittleprinceinterrupted. "Whatdoesthatmean-- ‘ephemeral‘?" "Whethervolcanoesareextinctoralive,itcomestothesamethingforus,"saidthegeographer. "Thethingthatmatterstousisthemountain.Itdoesnotchange." "Butwhatdoesthatmean-- ‘ephemeral‘?"repeatedthelittleprince,whoneverinhislifehadletgoofaquestion,oncehehadaskedit. "Itmeans, ‘whichisindangerofspeedydisappearance.‘" "Ismyflowerindangerofspeedydisappearance?" "Certainlyitis." "Myflowerisephemeral,"thelittleprincesaidtohimself, "andshehasonlyfourthornstodefendherselfagainsttheworld.AndIhaveleftheronmyplanet,allalone!" Thatwashisfirstmomentofregret.Buthetookcourageoncemore. "Whatplacewouldyouadvisemetovisitnow?"heasked. "TheplanetEarth,"repliedthegeographer. "Ithasagoodreputation." Andthelittleprincewentaway,thinkingofhisflower. 中文： 第 15 章 第六颗行星则要大十倍。上面住着一位老先生，他在写作大部头的书。 “瞧！来了一位探险家。”老先生看到小王子时，叫了起来。 小王子在桌旁坐下，有点气喘吁吁。他跑了多少路啊！ “你从哪里来的呀？”老先生问小王子。 “这一大本是什么书？你在这里干什么？”小王子问道。 “我是地理学家。”老先生答道。 “什么是地理学家？” “地理学家,就是一种学者,他知道哪里有海洋，哪里有江河、城市、山脉、沙漠。” “这倒挺有意思。”小王子说。“这才是一种真正的行当。”他朝四周围看了看这位地理学家的星球。他还从来没有见过一颗如此壮观的行星。 “您的星球真美呀。上面有海洋吗？” “这我没法知道。”地理学家说。 “啊！”小王子大失所望。“那么，山脉呢？” “这，我没法知道。”地理学家说。 “那么，有城市、河流、沙漠吗？” “这，我也没法知道。”地理学家说。 “可您还是地理学家呢！” “一点不错，”地理学家说，“但是我不是探察家。我手下一个探察家都没有。地理学家是不去计算城市、河流、山脉、海洋、沙漠的。地理学家很重要，不能到处跑。他不能离开他的办公室。但他可以在办公室里接见探察家。他询问探察家,把他们的回忆记录下来。如果他认为其中有个探察家的回忆是有意思的，那么地理学家就对这个探察家的品德做一番调查。” “这是为什么呢？” “因为一个说假话的探察家会给地理书带来灾难性的后果。同样，一个太爱喝酒的探察家也是如此。” “这又是为什么？”小王子说。 “因为喝醉了酒的人把一个看成两个，那么，地理学家就会把只有一座山的地方写成两座山。” “我认识一个人，他要是搞探察的话，就很可能是个不好的探察员。”小王子说。 “这是可能的。因此，如果探察家的品德不错，就对他的发现进行调查。” “去看一看吗？” “不。那太复杂了。但是要求探察家提出证据来。例如，假使他发现了一座大山，就要求他带来一些大石头。” 地理学家忽然忙乱起来。 “正好，你是从老远来的么！你是个探察家！你来给我介绍一下你的星球吧！” 于是，已经打开登记簿的地理学家，削起他的铅笔来。他首先是用铅笔记下探察家的叙述，等到探察家提出了证据以后再用墨水笔记下来。 “怎么样？”地理学家询问道。 “啊！我那里，”小王子说道，“没有多大意思，那儿很小。我有三座火山，两座是活的，一座是熄灭了的。但是也很难说。” “很难说。”地理学家说道。 “我还有一朵花。” “我们是不记载花卉的。”地理学家说。 “这是为什么？花是最美丽的东西。” “因为花卉是短暂的。” “什么叫短暂？” “地理学书籍是所有书中最严肃的书。”地理学家说道，“这类书是从不会过时的。很少会发生一座山变换了位置，很少会出现一个海洋干涸的现象。我们要写永恒的东西。” “但是熄灭的火山也可能会再复苏的。”小王子打断了地理学家。“什么叫短暂？” “火山是熄灭了的也好，苏醒的也好，这对我们这些人来讲都是一回事。”?地理学家说，“对我们来说，重要的是山。山是不会变换位置的。” “但是，‘短暂’是什么意思？”小王子再三地问道。他一旦提出一个问题是从不放过的。 “意思就是：有很快就会消失的危险。” “我的花是很快就会消失的吗？” “那当然。” 小王子自言自语地说：“我的花是短暂的，而且她只有四根刺来防御外侮！可我还把她独自留在家里！” 这是他第一次产生了后悔，但他又重新振作起来： “您是否能建议我去看些什么？”小王子问道。 “地球这颗行星，”地理学家回答他说，“它的名望很高…” 于是小王子就走了，他一边走一边想着他的花。