Chapter 23

- the little prince encounters a merchant      
"Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good morning," said the merchant.
This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench¹ thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need of anything to drink.
"Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.
"Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week."
"And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"
"Anything you like..."
"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water."

    “你好。”小王子说。   
    “你好。”商人说道。   
    这是一位贩卖能够止渴的精制药丸的商人。每周吞服一丸就不会感觉口渴。   
    “你为什么卖这玩艺儿？”小王子说。   
    “这就大大地节约了时间。”商人说，“专家们计算过，这样，每周可以节约五十三分钟。”   
    “那么，用这五十三分钟做什么用？”   
    “随便怎么用都行。…”   
    小王子自言自语地说：“我如果有五十三分钟可支配，我就悠哉游哉地向水泉走去…”

1 quench   

vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制

参考例句：

• The firemen were unable to quench the fire.消防人员无法扑灭这场大火。
• Having a bottle of soft drink is not enough to quench my thirst.喝一瓶汽水不够解渴。