第四章[第1頁/共7頁]

我可不但願人們漫不經心腸讀我的書。在報告這些舊事時，我已接受了太多哀痛。我的朋友帶著他的小綿羊已經拜彆六年了。我之以是在這裡極力把他描述出來，就是為了不要健忘他。健忘一個朋友，這太叫人哀痛了。並不是統統的人都有過一個朋友。再說，如果我健忘他，我也能夠變成那些大人那樣，隻對數字感興趣。

They are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people.

隨後，他在一次國際天文學家代表大會上對他的發明做了首要的論證。但因為他所穿衣服是土耳其的打扮，以是冇有人信賴他。那些大人們就是如許。

這倒並冇有使我感到太奇特。我曉得除地球、木星、火星、金星這幾個馳稱呼的大行星以外，還稀有以百計彆的星球，它們有的小得很，就是用望遠鏡也很丟臉見。當一個天文學者發明瞭此中一個星球，他不會給它一個名字，而是給它編上一個號碼，比方把它稱做“325小行星”。

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said.

They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like What games does he love best Does he collect butterflies"Instead, they demand: "How old is he How many brothers has he How much does he weigh How much money does his father make" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.

But that did not really surprise me much. I knew very well that in addition to the great planets― such as the Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Venus― to which we have given names, there are also hundreds of others, some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope. When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name, but only a number. He might call it, for example, "Asteroid 325."I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612. This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.