小王子和狐狸

跟不看書的朋友閒聊，我說若只看一本書，看《小王子》好了。法文寫成，全球譯本無數，看中譯本記住看法文譯中文的。我看過多個中譯本，有些由英譯本譯中文，差到難以置信，所以，無論任何著作，看中譯本要留意版權頁，最好買原文翻譯的。
《小王子》簡單易讀，通常放在兒童文學欄，不同年齡的讀者會看到不同意思。在單調的人生之中，人到底追求甚麼呢？
作者安東尼是飛機師，飛行時曾在沙漠遇險，也許在那兒遇見小王子。他最後在天空失蹤，說不定只是飛到狐狸說的另一星球去。


The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on that planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.

"My life
is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . ."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.