第十六章[第1頁/共2頁]

The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count, there 111 kings (not forgetting, to be sure, the Negro kings among them), 7000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 tipplers, 311,000,000 conceited men― that is to say, about 2,000,000,000 grown-ups.

為了讓你們對地球的大小有一個清楚體味，我想要奉告你們，在發明電之前，在六大洲上，為了點路燈，需求有一支為數四十六萬二千五百一十一人的雄師。

從遠處看來，這是非常絢麗光輝的。這支軍隊的行動就像歌劇院的芭蕾舞行動一樣有條不紊。起首呈現的是新西蘭和澳大利亞的點燈人。點亮了燈，隨後他們就去睡覺了。然後就輪到中國和西伯利亞的點燈人走上舞台。他們也很快退到幕布前麵去了。因而就又輪到俄羅斯和印度的點燈人了。接著就是非洲和歐洲的。然後是南美的，再就是北美的。他們向來也不會搞錯他們上場的挨次。真了不起。

地球可不是一顆淺顯的行星！它上麵有一百一十一個國王（當然，包含非洲黑人國王）、七千個地理學家、九十萬個販子、七百五十萬個酒鬼、三億一千一百萬個傲慢自大的人，也就是說，約莫有二十億的大人。

以是，小王子拜候的第七個星球就是地球了。

Only the man who was in charge of the single lamp at the North Pole, and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp at the South Pole― only these two would live free from toil and care: they would be busy twice a year.

北極獨一一盞路燈，南極也隻要一盞，唯獨北極的點燈人和他南極的同事，過著散逸、清閒的餬口：他們每年隻事情兩次。

To give you an idea of the size of the Earth, I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain, over the whole of the six continents, a veritable army of 462,511 lamplighters for the street lamps.

So then the seventh planet was the Earth.

Chapter 16