小王子 第24期:君主至上

 "That frightens me... I cannot, any more..." murmured the little prince, now completely abashed¹.

“这倒叫我有点紧张…我打不出哈欠来了…”小王子红着脸说。

"Hum! Hum!" replied the king. "Then I – I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to–"

“嗯！嗯！”国王回答道：“那么我…命令你忽而打哈欠，忽而…”

He sputtered² a little, and seemed vexed³.

他嘟嘟囔囔，显出有点恼怒。

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected.

因为国王所要求的主要是保持他的威严受到尊敬。

He tolerated no disobedience.

他不能容忍不听他的命令。

He was an absolute monarch⁴.

他是一位绝对的君主。

But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.

可是，他却很善良，他下的命令都是有理智的。

"If I ordered a general," he would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird,"

“如果我命令一个将军,”他会说,举个例子,“如果我命令一个将军改变自己变成一个海鸟,”

and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.

而这位将军不服从我的命令，那么这就不是将军的过错，而是我的过错。”

"May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry⁵ from the little prince.

小王子腼腆地试探道：“我可以坐下吗？”

"I order you to do so," the king answered him, and majestically⁶ gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle⁷.

“我命令你坐下。”国王一边回答，一边庄重地把他那白底黑花皮袍大襟挪动了一下。

But the little prince was wondering...

可是小王子感到很奇怪。

The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?

这么小的行星，国王他对什么进行统治呢？

"Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question..."

他对国王说：“陛下…请原谅，我想问您…”

"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.

国王急忙抢着说道：“我命令你问我。”

Sire–over what do you rule?

陛下…你统治什么呢？

"Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity⁸.

国王非常简单明了地说：“我统治一切。”

Over everything?

一切？

The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars.

国王轻轻地用手指着他的行星和其他的行星，以及所有的星星。

"Over all that?" asked the little prince.

小王子说：“统治这一切？”

"Over all that," the king answered.

“统治这一切。”国王回答。

For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.

原来他不仅是一个绝对的君主，而且是整个宇宙的君主。

And the stars obey you?

那么，星星都服从您吗？

"Certainly they do," the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."

“那当然！”国王对他说，“它们立即就得服从。我是不允许无纪律的。”

1 abashed   

adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He glanced at Juliet accusingly and she looked suitably abashed. 他怪罪的一瞥，朱丽叶自然显得很窘。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The girl was abashed by the laughter of her classmates. 那小姑娘因同学的哄笑而局促不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sputtered   

v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• The candle sputtered out. 蜡烛噼啪爆响着熄灭了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The balky engine sputtered and stopped. 不听使唤的发动机劈啪作响地停了下来。 来自辞典例句

3 vexed   

adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论

参考例句：

• The conference spent days discussing the vexed question of border controls. 会议花了几天的时间讨论边境关卡这个难题。
• He was vexed at his failure. 他因失败而懊恼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

5 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

6 majestically   

雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地

参考例句：

• The waters of the Changjiang River rolled to the east on majestically. 雄伟的长江滚滚东流。
• Towering snowcapped peaks rise majestically. 白雪皑皑的山峰耸入云霄。

7 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

8 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。