Slowly, Joe got closer to the turtle. He smoked and looked at it. "Poor thing," he said, "It is sad to be caught. Now you will be killed." The turtle pushed a foot out of his hard cover. Old Joe looked at his foot with his sharp cutting claws. "It would be different in the water, wouldn't it, turtle?" He said. "In the water, you could cut down your enemies with those sharp claws." He thought about the turtle in the water. It would probably move as fast as a bullet from a gun. Nothing would try to fight it in the water. Yet here it was in the middle of a dirt road as helpless as a baby. Old Joe dropped his cigarette. Now why was he getting so excited about the turtle? He was an old man and he was acting like a child. They were going to White River to catch fish and he was worrying about a turtle.


Joe慢慢地接近海龟。一边抽烟，一边看着它。 “可怜的家伙！”他说，“你很不幸被抓了，现在你将会被杀死。” 海龟把他一只脚从厚厚的壳中伸出来。老Joe看了看他那带着锋利爪子的脚。 他说：“如果是在水里就大不一样了，不是吗，海龟？在水里的话，你讲用你锋利的爪子砍断你的敌人。”他相像海龟在水里的情景。它可能移动像从枪里打出的子弹一样快。没有什么能挑战他，在水中。 然而，它现在是在肮脏的马路中间，像婴儿一样无助。 老Joe扔掉了烟。为什么他现在对这海龟这么关注呢？他是一个老人，然而他的行为又像是一个孩子。他们打算去White河抓鱼，但他有担心起海龟来了。