Маленький принц
Chapter 15
"That’sright,"saidthegeographer, "butI’mnotanexplorer. There’snotoneexploreronmyplanet. Ageographerdoesn’tgoouttodescribecities,rivers,mountains,seas,oceans,anddeserts. Ageographeristooimportanttogowanderingabout. Heneverleaveshisstudy. Buthereceivestheexplorersthere. Hequestionsthem,andhewritesdownwhattheyremember. Andifthememoriesofoneoftheexplorersseeminterestingtohim,thenthegeographerconductsaninquiryintothatexplorer’smoralcharacter."
"Whyisthat?"
"Becauseanexplorerwhotoldlieswouldcausedisastersinthegeographybooks. Aswouldanexplorerwhodranktoomuch."
"Whyisthat?"thelittleprinceaskedagain. "Becausedrunkardsseedouble. Andthegeographerwouldwritedowntwomountainswheretherewasonlyone."
"Iknowsomeone,"saidthelittleprince,"whowouldbeabadexplorer."
"Possibly. Well,whentheexplorer’smoralcharacterseemstobeagoodone,aninvestigationismadeintohisdiscovery."
"Bygoingtoseeit?"
"No,thatwouldbetoocomplicated. Buttheexplorerisrequiredtofurnishproofs. Forinstance,ifheclaimstohavediscoveredalargemountain,heisrequiredtobringbacklargestonesfromit. "Thegeographersuddenlygrewexcited. "Butyoucomefromfaraway! You’reanexplorer! Youmustdescribeyourplanetforme!"
Andthegeographer,havingopenedhislogbook,sharpenedhispencil. Explorers’reportsarefirstrecordedinpencil; inkisusedonlyafterproofshavebeenfurnished.