第五颗行星非常奇怪，是这些星星中最小的一颗。行星上刚好能容得下一盏 路灯和一个点路灯的人。小王子怎么也解释不通：这个坐落在天空某一角落，既没有房屋又没有居民的行星上，要一盏路灯和一个点灯的人做什么用。
The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people, and not one house.
但他自己猜想：“可能这个人思想不正常。但他比起国王，比起那个爱虚荣 的人，那个实业家和酒鬼，却要好些。至少他的工作还有点意义。当他点着了他 的路灯时，就象他增添了一颗星星，或是一朵花。当他熄灭了路灯时，就象让星 星或花朵睡着了似的。这差事真美妙，就是真正有用的了。”
But he said to himself, nevertheless:"It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king, the conceited man, the businessman, and the tippler. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower. When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful."
小王子一到了这个行星上，就很尊敬地向点路灯的人打招呼：
When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.
“早上好。——你刚才为什么把路灯灭了呢？”
"Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?"
“早上好。——这是命令。”点灯的回答道。
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter. "Good morning."
“命令是什么？”
"What are the orders?"
“就是熄掉我的路灯。——晚上好。”
"The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening."
于是他又点燃了路灯。
And he lighted his lamp again.
“那么为什么你又把它点着了呢？”
"But why have you just lighted it again?"
“这是命令。”点灯的人回答道。
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter.
“我不明白。”小王子说。
"I do not understand," said the little prince.
“没什么要明白的。命令就是命令。”点灯的回答说。“早上好。”
"There is nothing to understand," said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning."
于是他又熄灭了路灯。
And he put out his lamp.
然后他拿一块有红方格子的手绢擦着额头。
Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.
“我干的是一种可怕的职业。以前还说得过去，早上熄灯，晚上点灯，剩下 时间，白天我就休息，夜晚我就睡觉……”
"I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep."
“那么，后来命令改变了，是吗？”
"And the orders have been changed since that time?"
点灯的人说：“命令没有改，惨就惨在这里了！这颗行星一年比一年转得更快，而命令却没有改。”
"The orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter. "That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"
“结果呢？”小王子问。
"Then what?" asked the little prince.
“结果现在每分钟转一圈，我连一秒钟的休息时间都没有了。每分钟我就要 点一次灯，熄一次灯！”
"Then-- the planet now makes a complete turn every minute, and I no longer have a single second for repose. Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!"
“真有趣，你这里每天只有一分钟长！”
"That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!"
“一点趣味也没有，”点灯的说，“我们俩在一块说话就已经有一个月的时间了。”
"It is not funny at all!" said the lamplighter. "While we have been talking together a month has gone by."
“一个月？”
"A month?"
“对。三十分钟。三十天！——晚上好。”
"Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening."
于是他又点着了了他的路灯。
And he lighted his lamp again.
小王子瞅着他，他喜欢这个点灯人如此忠守命令。这时，他想起了他自己从前挪动椅子寻找日落的事。他很想帮助他的这位朋友。 “告诉你，我知道一种能使你休息的办法，你要什么时候休息都可以。”
As the little prince watched him, he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders. He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek, in other days, merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend. "You know," he said, "I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to…"
“我老是想休息。”点灯人说。
"I always want to rest," said the lamplighter.
因为，一个人可以同时是忠实的，又是懒惰的。
For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time.
小王子接着说：“你的这颗行星这样小，你三步就可以绕它一圈。你只要慢慢地走，就可以 一直在太阳的照耀下，你想休息的时候，你就这样走……那么，你要白天又多长它 就有多长。”
The little prince went on with his explanation: "Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it. To be always in the sunshine, you need only walk along rather slowly. When you want to rest, you will walk-- and the day will last as long as you like."
“这办法帮不了我多打忙，生活中我喜欢的就是睡觉。”点灯人说。
"That doesn't do me much good," said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."
“真不走运。”小王子说。
"Then you're unlucky," said the little prince.
“真不走运。”点灯人说。“早上好。”
"I am unlucky," said the lamplighter. "Good morning."
然后他又熄灭了路灯。
And he put out his lamp.
"That man," said the little prince to himself, as he continued farther on his journey, "that man would be scorned by all the others: by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself."
他惋惜地叹了口气，并且又对自己说道：“本来这是我唯一可以和他交成朋友的人。可是他的星球确实太小了，住不 下两个人……”
He breathed a sigh of regret, and said to himself, again: "That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people…"
小王子没有勇气承认的是：他留恋这颗令人赞美的星星，特别是因为在那里 每二十四小时就有一千四百四十次日落！
What the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet, because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets!