《小王子》：一个讲给成人的童话故事！含双语文本(2)

我不知道该怎么回答。当时我正忙着要从发动机上卸下一颗拧得太紧的螺钉。我发现故障似乎很严重，饮用水也快完了。我担心会发生最坏的情况，心里很着急。
"The thorns-- what use are they?"
“那么，刺有什么用呢？”
The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it. As for me, I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:
"The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!"
小王子只要提了一个问题，就不依不饶地要得到答案。而那个螺钉正弄得我很恼火，我就随口回答了一句：
“刺呀，什么用都没有，纯粹是花儿想使坏呗。”
"Oh!"
“喔！”
There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:
"I don"t believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons..."
但他沉默了一会儿以后，忿忿然地冲着我说：
“我不信你的话！花儿是纤弱的，天真的。它们想尽量保护自己。它们以为有了刺就会显得很厉害……”
I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won"t turn, I am going to knock it out with the hammer." Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.