If you were to say to the grown-ups: "I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof," they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all. You would have to say to them: "I saw a house that cost $20,000." Then they would exclaim: "Oh, what a pretty house that is!"Just so, you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists." And what good would it do to tell them that They would shrug their shoulders, and treat you like a child.
幸亏，为了小行星B-612的名誉，土耳其的一个统治者，制定法律迫使他的群众都要穿欧式打扮，不然就处以极刑。1920年，这位天文学家穿了一身非常高雅的打扮，又在大会上重新做了一次论证。这一次统统的人都接管他的观点。
我还体味到第二件首要的事，就是小王子地点的阿谁星球比一座屋子大不了多少。
Grown-ups are like that...
如果我给你们讲关于小行星B-612的这些细节，并且奉告你们它的编号，这是因为这些大人和他们行动体例的原因。大人们喜好数字。当你对他们说你交了一个新朋友时，他们向来不向你提出本色性的题目。他们向来不讲：“他说话声音像甚么？他最爱好甚么样的游戏？他是否汇集胡蝶标本？”相反，他们会问你：“他多大年纪呀？弟兄几个呀？体重多少磅呀？他父亲挣多少钱呀？”只要从这些数字信息，他们才感觉他们体味了他。如果你对大人们说：“我看到一幢用玫瑰色的砖盖成的标致的屋子，窗台上摆着天竺葵，屋顶上另有鸽子……”他们没法对这个屋子有任何感受。如果你如许对他们说：“我瞥见了一幢代价十万法郎的屋子。”那么他们就惊叫道：“多么标致的屋子啊！”
It is for that purpose, again, that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils. It is hard to take up drawing again at my age, when I have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside, since I was six. I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible. But I am not at all sure of success. One drawing goes along all right, and another has no resemblance to its subject. I make some errors, too, in the littl e prince’s height: in one place he is too tall and in another too short. And I feel some doubts about the color of his costume. So I fumble along as best I can, now good, now bad, and I hope generally fair-to-middling.