“那么，那些刺有什么用呢？”
"Then the thorns-- what use are they?"

我不知道。我当时正忙着要把一枚卡在发动机里的螺丝钉拧出来。我很担心，因为我发现飞机的毛病十分严重，而最让我害怕的是，饮用水变得越来越少了。
I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.

@苏雨诺0819

“那些刺到底有什么用呀？”
"The thorns-- what use are they?"

小王子提出问题后总是非得到答案不可。我正被那枚螺丝钉弄得很烦，于是随口说道：“那些刺根本没有用，它们只是为了表现花朵的恶意。”
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!"

“噢！”
“oh！”

但过了片刻，他有点怨恨地说：
There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:

“我不相信你！花朵很弱小。她们是天真的。她们会尽量保护自己。她们觉得那些刺是可怕的武器……”
"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…"

我没有回答。这时我在想：“如果转不动这枚螺丝钉，我就用铁锤把它敲掉。”小王子打断了我的思维：
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

“你真的以为花朵……”
"And you actually believe that the flowers--"

“别烦啦！我什么都不以为！我是随口说说的。我有正经的事要做！”他吃惊地看着我。
"Oh, no!" I cried. "No, no no! I don't believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don't you see-- I am very busy with matters of consequence!"

He stared at me, thunderstruck.

He stared at me, thunderstruck.

“正经的事！”
"Matters of consequence!"

他盯着我看，当时我手里拿着铁锤，手指沾满黑色油污，正在弯腰摆弄某台在他看来十分丑陋的机器。
He looked at me there, with my hammer in my hand, my fingers black with engine-grease, bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly…