210'

As each day passed I would learn in our talk something about the little prince's planet his departure from it his journey. The information would come very slowly as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard on the third day about the catastrophe of the baobabs.
每天，从我们的对话中，我一点一点地了解了小王子的星球，他的离去，他的旅途。我对他的了解积累得很慢，只是通过他偶尔透露的信息。我就是这样，在第三天了解到猴面包树的灾难。

This time once more I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly--as if seized by a grave doubt--"It is true isn't it that sheep eat little bushes?"
"Yes that is true."
"Ah! I am glad!"
这次，和以前一样，都是多亏了那只羊。小王子的问题来得很突兀——好像突然有了个严肃的想法——“羊是吃小灌木的，对吧？”

I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:
"Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?"
I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes but on the contrary trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him the herd would not eat up one single baobab.
我不明白羊吃小灌木这件事为什么这么重要。但是小王子接着说：
“那他们也吃猴面包树了？”
我向他指出，猴面包树不是小灌木，恰恰相反，猴面包树都有城堡那么大；哪怕带一群大象来，也吃不掉一颗猴面包树。

The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
"We would have to put them one on top of the other" he said.
But he made a wise comment:
"Before they grow so big the baobabs start out by being little."
"That is strictly correct" I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?"
He answered me at once "Oh come come!" as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem without any assistance.
我说到一群大象，小王子就笑了起来。
“那它们不是要一只只叠起来，”他说。
但他马上聪明地回应：
“猴面包树长大之前，也只是一颗小苗。”
“这是没错的，”我说。“但是你想要羊吃掉猴面包树苗吗？”
他马上回答道，“别这样！”，好像我说的是非常显然的常识。我必须独自解开这个谜团。

Indeed as I learned there were on the planet where the little prince lived--as on all planets--good plants and bad plants. In consequence there were good seeds from good plants and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin--timidly at first--to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant one must destroy it as soon as possible the very first instant that one recognizes it.
果然，我了解到，小王子生活的星球上——像其他星球一样——有好作物也有坏作物。所以就有好作物的好种子，和坏作物的坏种子。但种子是肉眼看不到的。他们深眠于地下，直到被内心的渴望唤醒。然后这颗种子就会伸展开来——一开始很谨慎地——伸出一根小枝芽，静静地指向太阳。如果只是颗萝卜，或是蔷薇丛的枝芽，大概就不会有人在意，会随它生长了。但如果是坏坏作物，就必须尽早消灭它，一认出来就动手。

Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small and the baobabs are too many they split it in pieces . . .
现在，小王子的家乡，那颗行星上有些很坏的种子，也就是猴面包树的种子。行星的土壤里满是这些种子。一旦疏忽一点，猴面包树就永远除不掉了。它会蔓延整个星球，根会渗透整片土壤。如果星球太小，猴面包树太多，就会被猴面包树撑开…

"It is a question of discipline" the little prince said to me later on. "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet just so with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work" the little prince added "but very easy.”
“这是纪律问题，”小王子之后说。“早上洗漱完毕后，就该悉心照料、梳理星球了。一旦能区分猴面包树和蔷薇丛，它们一开始样子非常像，就要赶紧除掉。这工作很乏味，”小王子说，“但是非常简单。”