Li :good morning.Why have you just put out your lamp.

La :those are the orders,good morning.

Li :what are the orders?

La :the orders are the l put out my lamp.goodevening .

Li :but why have you just lighted it again?

La :those are the orders ,

Li :l do not understand,

La :there is nothing to understand.orders are orders.good morning.

La .l follow a terrible profession.in the old days it was reasonably.l put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening l lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep.

Li :and the orders have been changed since that time?

La .the orders have not been changed.that is the tragedy!from year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed.

Li :then what?

La :then—the planet now makes a complete turn every minute,and l no longer have a single second for repose.once every minute l have to light my lamp and put it out!

Li :that is very funny!a day lasts only one minute.here where you live.

La :It is not funny at all! While we have been talking together a month has gone by.

Li :A month?

La :Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening.

Li :You know,l can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to...

La :I always want to rest

Li :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.

La :That doesn‘t do me much good,The one thing I love in life is to sleep.

Li :Then you‘re unlucky

La :I am unlucky,Good morning.

Li :That man,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.

Li :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...