小王子第一章（蟒蛇吞吃大象）

导读：

   小说的叙述者说，当他六岁的时候，画了他的第一幅画。这幅画是一条蟒蛇在消化一头大象，但成年人认为这是一顶帽子。为了向成年人解释他的画，叙述者画了第二张图，一张显示大象在蛇里面的x光照片。可是大人根本不关心我画的是什么，他们劝我把这些画着开着肚皮的，或闭上肚皮的蟒蛇的图画放在一边，还 是把兴趣放在地理、历史、算术、语法上。之后我放弃画画，转而学习地理、算术和语法，最终当了一名飞行员。他承认他所学的地理知识确实对飞行很有用。

叙述者对成年人的看法从未改善，认为大人总是需要解释，不能独立弄清楚事情。而孩子们运用他们的想象力，看到了大蟒蛇体内隐藏的大象，而成年人则提供了最枯燥、最缺乏想象力的答案，把这幅画当作帽子看待。在以后的日子里，他一直用这幅画作为考题，看一个成年人是否有赤子之心。不幸的是，成年人总是以成年人的视角来回应，所以叙述者必须和他们谈论枯燥、务实的问题。

    we are introduced to the narrator, a pilot, and his ideas about grown-ups

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

★Magnificent：[mæɡˈnɪfɪsnt]宏伟的;壮丽的;令人印象深刻的。★primeval forest：[praɪˈmiːvl ˈfɒrɪst]原始森林。★boa constrictor：[ˈboʊə kənstrɪktər] 王蛇，大蟒蛇（主要产于美洲中南部和西印度群岛）。★Swallow：[ˈswɒləʊ] 吞下;咽下。

    In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

★Digestion：[daɪˈdʒestʃən] 消化;消化能力。

    I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:

★Ponder：沉思;考虑;琢磨。★the adventures of the jungle：丛林奇遇。

    I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.★Masterpiece：杰作。

    But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

   The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

★devote ：献(身);奉献，投入(时间、精力等); 。★geography, history, arithmetic and grammar：地理、历史、算术、语法。★Disheartened：[dɪsˈhɑːtnd] 灰心的;失望的;气馁的。

    So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

    In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

★Encounter：遭遇，遇到(尤指令人不快或困难的事) 。★intimately：紧密，密切地，直接地。

    Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. ★clear-sighted: 有见识的;有决断力的; 头脑清楚的。 I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:

  "That is a hat."

   Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.★ Neckties:领带。