Chapter III

It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.

The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me:

"What is that object?"

"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."

And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.

He cried out, then:

"What! You dropped down from the sky?"

"Yes," I answered, modestly.

"Oh! That is funny!"

And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.

Then he added:

"So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?"

At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:

"Do you come from another planet?"

But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently, without taking his eyes from my plane:

"It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away..."

And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.

You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.

"My little man, where do you come from? What is this 'where I live,' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?"

After a reflective silence he answered:

"The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house."

"That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to."

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:

"Tie him! What a queer idea!"

"But if you don't tie him," I said, "he will wander off somewhere, and get lost."

My friend broke into another peal of laughter:

"But where do you think he would go?"

"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."

Then the little prince said, earnestly:

"That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small!"

And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added:

"Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far..."

一、可能的生詞

reveal 顯示；表明；透露
words 話；話語；所寫的文字
by chance 偶然；碰巧
for instance 例如
modestly 謙虛地；謙恭地；謙遜地
peal 持久響亮的聲音；轟轟的響聲
irritate 激怒；使惱怒；使煩躁
impenetrable 費解的；難以理解的
demand 質問
abruptly 突然地，意外地（常指令人不快的改變或行為）
toss (常表示憤怒或輕蔑地)甩(頭或頭發(fā))
reverie 幻想;白日夢
contemplation 深思熟慮；沉思
curiosity 好奇心
reflective 沉思的；深思的
queer 古怪的；奇特的；異常的
wander off 漫步；閑逛；游蕩
earnestly （說話）認真地，鄭重其事地
a hint of 少許；微量

二、可能的難句

The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him.
小王子問了我很多問題，never seemed to hear，卻看起來好像沒聽到我對他的任何一個提問。

It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.
這里的words已解釋，就是“話語” ；drop有一個義項是“drop a hint”，是“隨口說出 給出暗示”；by chance即“偶爾”。那么這個“words dropped by chance that”，就是從小王子的話中偶爾透露的信息，來一點點得知整個真相。

he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.
此句應該拆分成 bury himself in the comtemplation，把自已埋入沉思之中；是 of his treasure 因為他的寶貝（即“我”給他畫的小羊）。最后譯成，“他看著他的寶貝陷入沉思”。

You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets."
我們知道confidence是表示對某件事情真實性有把握，那么half-confidence，就是指“我”對于小王子來自別的星球這件事已經有一定把握的，所以更加好奇的想尋根問底。