But certainly, for us who understand life, figures are a matter of indifference. I should have liked to begin this story in the fashion of the fairy-tales. I should have like to say: "Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was scarcely any bigger than himself, and who had need of a sheep..."To those who understand life, that would have given a much greater air of truth to my story.
就像如许，如果你对他们说：“小王子存在的证据就是他非常标致，他笑着，想要一只羊。如果有人想要一只绵羊，那就是他存在的证明。”如许奉告他们的成果是甚么呢？他们必然会耸耸肩膀，不觉得然，把你当作小孩子对待。但是，如果你对他们说“小王子来自的星球就是小行星B-612”，那么他们就非常佩服，就不会提出一大堆题目来和你胶葛。
随后，他在一次国际天文学家代表大会上对他的发明做了首要的论证。但因为他所穿衣服是土耳其的打扮，以是没有人信赖他。那些大人们就是如许。
But if you said to them: "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612," then they would be convinced, and leave you in peace from their questions.
But that did not really surprise me much. I knew very well that in addition to the great planets― such as the Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Venus― to which we have given names, there are also hundreds of others, some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope. When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name, but only a number. He might call it, for example, "Asteroid 325."I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612. This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.