Turtle Picnic
Three turtles, Joe, Steve and Poncho decided to go on a picnic. Joe packs the picnic basket with cookies, bottled sodas and sandwiches. The trouble is, the picnic site is 10 miles away, and so the turtles take 10 days to get there.
By the time they do arrive, everyone is hungry. Joe takes the stuff out of the basket, one by one. He takes out the sodas and realizes that they forget to bring a bottle opener. Joe and Steve beg Poncho to turn back home and retrieve it, but Poncho flatly refuses, knowing that they’ll eat everything by the time he gets back.
Somehow, after about two hours, the turtles manage to convince Poncho to go, swearing on their great-grand turtles’ graves that they won’t touch the food. So, Poncho sets off down the road, slowly and steady.
Twenty days pass, but no Poncho. Joe and Steve are hungry and puzzled, but a promise is a promise. Another day passes, and still no Poncho, but promise is a promise. After three more days pass without Poncho in sight, Steve starts getting restless. “I need food!” he says with a hint of dementia in his voice.
“No!” Joe retorts. “We promised.”
Five more days pass. Joe realizes that Poncho probably skipped out to the Burger King down the road, so the two turtles weakly lift the lid, get a sandwich, and open their mouths to eat. But then, right at that instant, Poncho pops out behind a rock.
“Just for that, I’m not going.”
Simplified version (Please correct me if the simplification is not appropriate)
Three turtles, Joe, Steve and Poncho decided to go on a picnic. They put cookies, bottled sodas and sandwiches into the picnic basket. Then they set off. The trouble is, the picnic site is 10 miles away, and so the turtles take 10 days to get there.
When they arrive, everyone is hungry. Joe takes the food out of basket, one by one.. He takes out the sodas and realizes they do not bring a bottle opener.
“Poncho, could you turn back home and fetch one?” Joe and Steve asked.
“No! I won’t” Poncho thinks they will eat everything after he goes.
“We promise we won’t touch the food.”
So Poncho sets off down the road, slowly and steady.
Twenty days pass, but no Poncho. Joe and Steve are hungry, but a promise is a promise. Another day passes, and still no Poncho, but promise is a promise, everyone should keep the promise.
Three more days pass, still no Poncho. “I need food!” Steve said. “No! We promised” Joe replies.
Five more days pass. Joe realizes that Poncho maybe go to an interesting place down the road. So the two turtles weakly lift the lid, get a sandwich, and open their mouths to eat. But then, right at this moment, Poncho pops out behind a rock.
“Just for that, I am not going.” For twenty nine days, Poncho is always watching them behind the rock..
三只乌龟，Joe、Steve and Poncho决定去野餐，他们把饼干、汽水和三明治放进篮子里，然后就出发了。问题是，野餐的地点在十里之外，所以乌龟们花了十天才到达那里。
他们一到，就觉得肚子饿了，Joe一个又一个地把食物从篮子里拿出来，当他拿出苏打水的时候，他意识到他们没有带开瓶器。
“Poncho, 你能不能回家一趟把它取来？”Joe 和Steve 问。
“我不想去！”Poncho想：我走了之后，他们会吃掉所有的食物。
“我们保证不碰食物。”
Poncho这才缓慢地、稳稳当当地上路了。
二十天过去了，Poncho没有回来。Joe 和Steve都很饿了，但是，保证就是保证（不能食言）。 又过了一天，Poncho仍然没有回来，可是，保证就是保证，每个人都应该信守诺言。又过了三天， 还是没有Poncho的踪影。“我需要食物！”Steve说道，“不行！我们保证过。”Joe回答。
又过了五天，Joe意识到Poncho可能去了路上什么好玩儿的地方了，于是，两只乌龟虚弱地打开盖子，每人拿出一个三明治，张开嘴正要吃，可是就在这时，Poncho从一块岩石后冒了出来。
“就是因为这，我才没有走。”在这二十九天里，Poncho一直躲在岩石后面监视着他们。