小王子英文版24，每日讀英文原版書給你聽

“During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited（居住） this planet（星球）, I have been disturbed（干擾） only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some giddy（頭暈的） goose（鵝） fell from goodness knows（天知道） where. He made the most frightful（可怕的） noise that resounded（迴響） all over the place, and I made four mistakes in my addition（加法）.

The second time, eleven years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism（風溼病）. I don’t get enough exercise（鍛鍊）. I have no time for loafing（遊蕩）. The third time—well, this is it! I was saying, then, five-hundred-and-one millions—”

“Millions of what?” The businessman suddenly realized（意識到） that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question. “Millions of those little objects（物體）,” he said, “which one sometimes sees in the sky.”“Flies（蒼蠅）?”“Oh, no. Little glittering（閃閃發光的） objects.”“Bees（蜜蜂）?”

“Oh, no. Little golden（金黃色） objects that set lazy men to idle（懶惰的） dreaming. As for me, I am concerned（感興趣） with matters（事件） of consequence（結果）. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life.”

“Ah! You mean the stars?”“Yes, that’s it. The stars.”“And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?”“Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate（精確）.”“And what do you do with these stars?”

“What do I do with them?”“Yes.”“Nothing. I own（擁有） them.”“You own the stars?”“Yes.”“But I have already seen a king who—”“Kings do not own, they reign（統治） over. It is a very different matter.”“And what good does it do you to own the stars?”“It does me the good of making me rich.”

“And what good does it do you to be rich?”“It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are ever discovered（發現）.”“This man,” the little prince said to himself, “reasons a little like my poor tippler（酒鬼）..” Nevertheless（然而）, he still had some more questions. “How is it possible for one to own the stars?”“To whom do they belong?” the businessman retorted（反駁）, peevishly（氣呼呼的）. “I don’t know. To nobody.”

“Then they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it.”“Is that all that is necessary?”“Certainly. When you find a diamond（鑽石） that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you discover an island（島嶼） that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you get an idea before anyone else, you take out a patent（專利） on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them.”

“Yes, that is true,” said the little prince. “And what do you do with them?”“I administer（管理） them,” replied the businessman. “I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence.”