Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home. There’s a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water’s edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her.
This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her.
上个星期日我终于忍不住好奇,停止了慢跑,走到她身边。
As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in fact a small trap.
走近时我发现金属笼子其实是一个小陷阱。
There were three turtles, unharmed, slowly walking around the base of the trap.
三只乌龟安然无恙,绕着陷阱底部慢悠悠地爬着。
[ls]She had a fourth turtle in her lap that she was carefully scrubbing with a spongy brush.[/ls]她正认真地用海绵刷擦拭着第四只趴在她膝盖上的乌龟。
“Hello,” I said. “If you don’t mind my nosiness, I’d love to know what you’re doing with these turtles.”
“你好啊,”我说。“如果你不介意我多管闲事的话,我很想知道你在对这些乌龟做什么呢。”
She smiled. “I’m cleaning off their shells ,” she replied.
“我在清洗他们的壳,”她笑着回答说。
“Anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim. It can also corrode and weaken the shell over time.”
She went on: “I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning, relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out. It’s my own strange way of making a difference.
“But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?” I asked.
“但是,难道不是所有的淡水乌龟都是伴随着它们壳上的海藻和泡沫、浮渣度过一生的吗?”我问道。
“Yep, sadly, they do,” she replied.
“遗憾的是,它们的确这样。”她回答道。
“Well then, don’t you think your time could be better spent? And 99% of these turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells. So, no offense… but how exactly are your localized efforts here truly making a difference?”
She then looked down at the turtle in her lap, scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell, and said, “Sweetie, if this little guy could talk, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world.