“人呀，”小王子说着，“他们坐上火车出发，却不知道自己在寻找什么。然后他们又四处奔波，焦急不安，到处转呀转呀……”
接着，他加了一句：
“这不值当的……”
"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round..."
And he added:
"It is not worth the trouble..."
《小王子》第25章
【本节导读】“我”（作者）和小王子在井边享用着这拯救生命和心灵的水。小王子告诉我，“…“（人呀，）他们在同一个花园里种了五千朵玫瑰花……可是他们还是没能找到他们想要的东西…”“可是呀，他们找的东西却也许只在一朵玫瑰花里或一丁点水里面就可以找到的。”“可是眼睛是看不见的。一个人必须要用心去看……”
我突然就有了一种莫名的悲伤。小王子透露说，他来到地球已经有一年的时间了，而这里离他着陆的地方非常近。我知道，小王子一定不是回到这里来纪念他的一周年的，难道…
我想起了那只狐狸说的话。如果一个人被别人驯服的话，他就免不了会哭的。
【刘博士译文】
《小王子》
第25章
“人呀，”小王子说着，“他们坐上火车出发，却不知道自己在寻找什么。然后他们又四处奔波，焦急不安，到处转呀转呀……”
接着，他加了一句：
“这不值当的……”
我们所找到的这口水井不同于撒哈拉沙漠其他的井。撒哈拉沙漠的水井都只不过是在沙地上挖的洞而已。而这口井就像是一座村庄里的水井。可这里并没有村庄，我想我一定是在做梦吧…
“真奇怪，”我对小王子说，“一切都准备得好好的：井轱辘、水桶、还有绳子……”
小王子笑了起来，他用手试了一下绳子，然后就开始转动起井轱辘来。轱辘咯吱咯吱地响着，像是一个早已被风给遗忘的旧风向标又开始转动起来一样。
“你听到了吗？”小王子说，“我们把井给唤醒啦，他现在在唱歌呢……”
我可不想让他打水累着。
“让我来吧，”我说，“这活儿对你来说太重了。”
我慢慢地把水桶提到井边，然后将它放在井沿上—虽说这活儿很累，我还是为我的成就感到兴奋。井轱辘的歌声仍在我的耳边回荡，我还能看见阳光在依旧荡漾的水面上闪耀。
“我渴死啦，”小王子说，“给我喝点这水吧……”
这时我才明白他一直在找什么了。
我把水桶举到他的嘴边，他喝着水，他的眼睛闭着。那种甜美的感觉就如同他在品尝某种特殊的节日美味一般。这口井里的水的确不同于普通的饮用水。它的甘甜来自我们在星空下的长途跋涉，来自那井轱辘的歌声，还有我亲手的劳作。它的确对心灵有好处，它就像是给心灵的礼物一般。当我还是一个小孩子的时候，圣诞树的灯光，午夜弥撒的音乐，还有大人们满是温柔的笑脸，是这一切才让我所收到的礼物散发出独特的魅力。
“你住的地方那些人呀，”小王子说，“他们在同一个花园里种了五千朵玫瑰花……可是他们还是没能找到他们想要的东西。”
“是的，他们没有找到想要的东西，”我回答道。
“可是呀，他们找的东西却也许只在一朵玫瑰花里或一丁点水里面就可以找到的。”
“是的，的确是这样，”我说。
小王子又接着说道：
“可是眼睛是看不见的。一个人必须要用心去看……”
我也喝完了水。现在我不再气喘嘘嘘了。当太阳升起时，沙漠呈现出蜂蜜般的金色来，这一幕也让我欣喜不已。可是，我为什么会有一种悲伤的感觉呢？
“你一定要说话算数的，”小王子轻轻地说道。他再次在我身边坐下。
“我说什么了？”
“你知道的……我那只羊的口套…我要对这朵花儿负责任的……”
我从口袋里拿出我画的那些草图来。小王子一边翻看着，一边笑着说：
“你画的猴面包树呀……它们看起来简直像洋白菜耶。”
“哦！”
我原本还为我画的猴面包树自豪不已呢！
“你画的狐狸……他的耳朵看起来就像是长了角，它们也太长了。”
他又哈哈笑了起来。
“这可不公平，小王子，”我说，“我除了画过从外面看的蟒蛇和从里面看的蟒蛇以外，我根本就不会画画。”
“哦，那没事的，”他说，“孩子们看得懂的。”
于是我就用铅笔画了一个羊口套的草图。当我把画递给他时，我的心似乎有种撕痛感。
“你一定有什么事瞒着我，”我说。
小王子没有正面回答我，却说道：
“你知道吗……我来到地球上…明天就是一整年了。”
他沉默了一会儿，然后接着说：
“我着陆的地方离这儿很近的。”
小王子脸红了。
不知道为什么，我又一次感到了一种莫名的悲伤。然而，我突然想到了一个问题：
“这么说来，我第一次见到你的时候—就是一周以前的那个早上—，你当时正孤单单地一个人在荒无人烟的沙漠里走着，你其实并不是漫无目的在走，你是在返回你降落的地方，对吗？”
小王子的脸又红了。
我犹疑了一下，然后继续试探道：
“也许…难道你只是因为周年纪念日才回来的？”
小王子的脸红得更厉害了。他是从来不回答别人问题的……但当一个人脸红时，这难道不就意味着默认吗？
“哦，”我对他说，“我有一点点害怕了……”
不过他打断了我。
“现在你得回去干活儿了。你得回去修你的发动机啦。我会在这里等你的。请明天晚上再来吧。
可是我的心里一点儿也没底。我想起了那只狐狸说的话。如果一个人被别人驯服的话，他就免不了会哭的。
【刘博士音频】
【原著原文】
The Little Prince
Chapter 25
"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round..."
And he added:
"It is not worth the trouble..."
The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming...
"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope..."
He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.
"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing..."
I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.
"Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you."
I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there- happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.
"I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..." And I understood what he had been looking for.
I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received.
"The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden and they do not find in it what they are looking for."
"They do not find it," I replied.
"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water."
"Yes, that is true," I said.
And the little prince added:
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..."
I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me, then, this sense of grief?
"You must keep your promise," said the little prince, softly, as he sat down beside me once more.
"What promise?"
"You know a muzzle for my sheep... I am responsible for this flower..."
I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over, and laughed as he said:
"Your baobabs they look a little like cabbages."
"Oh!"
I had been so proud of my baobabs!
"Your fox his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long."
And he laughed again.
"You are not fair, little prince," I said. "I don‘t know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."
"Oh, that will be all right," he said, "children understand."
So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.
"You have plans that I do not know about," I said.
But he did not answer me. He said to me, instead:
"You know my descent to the earth... Tomorrow will be its anniversary."
Then, after a silence, he went on:
"I came down very near here."
And he flushed.
And once again, without understanding why, I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me:
"Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you -- a week ago--you were strolling along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on your way back to the place where you landed?"
The little prince flushed again.
And I added, with some hesitancy:
"Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?"
The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?
"Ah," I said to him, "I am a little frightened--"
But he interrupted me.
"Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here.
Come back tomorrow evening..."
But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed...