It was the summer of 1999; and on a warm evening on Mansouri beach in southern Lebanon, Mona Khalil was strolling(散步，闲逛) with a beer. She loved this beach. It was the world of her childhood holidays, running down to the rocky, sandy shore from her grandparents’ house. Her best summers had been spent here, adventuring. All the toys she had ever needed(曾经需要过的) she had picked up here, and still did: weird stones, lengths of driftwood(浮木，漂木), coloured glass bottles. They now filled her house and hung clinking(叮当作响) in the lemon and banana trees around it. This had become her dream life.
那是1999年夏天；在一个温暖的傍晚，莫娜·哈利勒在黎巴嫩南部的曼苏里海滩一边散步一边喝着啤酒。她热爱这片海滩。这是她童年假期的世界，从祖父母家跑下来，来到布满岩石和沙子的海岸。她最美好的夏天都是在这里冒险度过的。她曾经需要的所有玩具都是在这里捡到的，现在依然如此：奇特的石头、一段段浮木、彩色玻璃瓶。这些东西现在塞满了她的房子，挂在房子周围的柠檬树和香蕉树上叮当作响。这成了她梦寐以求的生活。
But suddenly on that evening she heard a noise, like a thud(砰的一声，重击声) or a thump, quite close. The next thing she knew, someone was throwing sand at her. She looked down to see, not a dog or a fox, but a huge turtle digging a nest in which to lay her eggs(用于产卵的（巢）). Later, when she had read more, she learned that this was a green sea turtle, a species that was critically endangered(极度濒危的). They were herbivores, eating sea-grass and seaweed, and might live to 100 years old. This particular female would have swum hundreds, maybe even thousands, of miles to lay her eggs exactly here, where 30 years ago she had hatched.(这只雌海龟可能游了数百甚至上千英里，专程回到30年前自己孵化的地方产卵。) Unerring instinct had led her to Ms Khalil’s feet and then, her eggs laid and covered up, wearily back into the sea(疲惫地回到海里) again. And all Ms Khalil could think of was how beautiful she was.
但那天晚上她突然听到一声响动，像是重击或闷响，非常近。接下来她感觉到有人在向她扔沙子。她低头一看，不是狗或狐狸，而是一只巨大的海龟正在挖巢准备产卵。后来，她读了更多资料才知道，这是一只绿海龟，一个极度濒危的物种。它们是食草动物，吃海草和藻类，可能活到100岁。这只特别的雌海龟可能游了数百甚至数千英里，专门回到这里产卵——30年前它就在这里孵化。无差错的直觉指引它来到哈利勒女士脚边，然后，在产卵并掩埋好后，疲惫地返回大海。而哈利勒女士满脑子想的只是它太美了。
This was the point at which her life changed, and became only turtles. She did not talk much about the years before. School in Beirut, a marriage, and a son, Omar, killed at eight by a passing boat as he gazed at starfish underwater. An escape to the Netherlands during Lebanon’s civil war, where she stayed for ten years and worked as a porcelain restorer(瓷器修复师). Then, in 1999, the return with her friend, Habiba Fayed, to her grandparents’ house. It was falling down, swallowed in a forest of weakened trees. Together they put it to rights(整理好，修复好). She painted it orange as a homage(致敬，敬意) to the Netherlands, and visitors noticed that Dutchness had touched her, too. A certain bluntness(直率，直言不讳), an unLebanese reserve, a refusal to be swayed, and a dogged(顽强的，固执的) belief in just getting on with it.
这是她人生的转折点，从此她的世界只剩下海龟。她不太谈论之前的岁月：在贝鲁特上学、一段婚姻、以及儿子奥马尔——他在八岁时因凝视水下海星而被一艘经过的船撞死。黎巴嫩内战期间逃到荷兰，在那里住了十年，做瓷器修复师。然后，1999年，她与朋友哈比芭·法耶德一起回到祖父母的房子。房子摇摇欲坠，被一片衰弱的树林吞噬。她们一起把它修好。她把房子漆成橙色以向荷兰致敬，访客们也注意到荷兰特质也感染了她：一种直率、一种非黎巴嫩式的内敛、一种不为所动的坚持，以及一种只管继续干下去的固执信念。