A short time later, little Dory swam through the big, blue open water ... alone. She called out, searching for someone who might be able to help her. "Hello ... ? Hello?"

"Did you hear that?" a fish asked her husband.

"Hellooooo!" young Dory's voice rang out again.

The wife followed the sound of Dory's voice. "Oh! There — right there!" She pointed¹ her fin² at the shape of a tiny fish in the distance. "I see a fish!"

"Well, it's the ocean," said her husband, Stan. "There are fish everywhere."

"Why do I swim with you?" the wife asked, exasperated³. "HELLO?" she called again.

"Hello?" said Dory, pursuing the voices.

When they finally found each other, the couple was shocked to see the little fish swimming all by herself. "Oh my goodness," said the wife. "It's a child!"

Dory was thrilled to see them. "Hi! I'm Dory! Can you please help me?" she asked.

"Well, hello, Dory," the wife answered. "Are you lost?"

"Where are your parents?" Stan asked.

"Um. I can't remember," said Dory.

"Okay," said Stan. "Well, we'll look around. Are any of these fish your parents?"

Dory slowly turned around, looking at the surrounding fish. She turned back to the couple and blinked her eyes. "Hi. I'm Dory. Can you please help me?"

The couple exchanged a look. "Dear, you told us that already," said the wife.

"I did?" asked Dory. "I'm sorry. I suffer from short-term memory loss."

"Oh, how awful," said the wife. She pulled her husband aside and asked him what he thought they should do. But when she turned back, Dory was gone! The couple swam around calling her name, trying to find her, but she had vanished.

Dory had already swum on and forgotten about the couple she had just met.

★★★

Alone and scared, Dory continued to search the strange waters. As the sun went down, the water became darker and scarier. Dory's eyes welled with tears as she settled down under a rocky overhang. She softly sang, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" until she drifted off to sleep.

★★★

Years went by, and Dory continued to ask for help from anyone who would listen. Most of the fish she ran into were sympathetic. They'd say things like "Really sorry we can't help you," or "Hope you find what you're looking for," or "Good luck." But how could anyone help her when she couldn't remember where she had come from? Or what she had lost in the first place? Dory searched and searched, but she'd completely forgotten everything. "I was looking for something," she said to one friendly fish. "I ... I just can't remember what." Dory patted her fins⁴ to her temples, hoping it would jogsomething into place. But nothing seemed to help.

Then one day, a boat streaked⁵ past overhead. The noisy engine caused other fish to scramble⁶, but Dory stayed, curiously⁷ watching as it went by. Suddenly, she heard a muffled⁸, panicked voice in the distance and slowly swam toward it.

"A white boat!" the voice cried. "It's a — They took my son! My son! My son! Help me! Please!"

Out of nowhere, an agitated⁹ clown fish appeared.

"Look out!" Dory screamed, and then she smacked¹⁰ into him. He bounced off her and landed hard on the ocean floor.

"Sorry!" said Dory, concerned. "I didn't see you!"

Marlin groaned¹¹ as Dory inspected him. "Are you okay?"

"He's gone," the clownfish cried. He quickly introduced himself as Marlin. He continued to dash back and forth¹², worried out of his mind about his son.

Dory tried to comfort him again and again, but it didn't seem to help.

"No, no — they took him away. I have to find the boat!" Marlin said, swimming off.

"A boat? Hey, I've seen a boat!" said Dory.

"You have?" Marlin stopped and swam back to Dory.

"Uh-huh. This way. It went this way! Follow me!" Dory sped off, and Marlin followed.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" said Marlin, and they swam away together.

 

此后不久，小多莉游过了蔚蓝辽阔的开放水域……孤零零地。她大声叫喊，想要寻求他人帮助。“有人吗？有人吗？”

“你听到什么了吗？”一条鱼向她丈夫问道。

“有人吗？”小多莉的声音又响了起来。

这位鱼太太顺着多莉的声音找寻起来。“啊！在那儿——就在那里！”她用鱼鳍指着远处的一个小鱼形状的东西。“我看见一条鱼！”

“唔，这是海洋，”她的丈夫斯坦说道，“到处都是鱼。”

“我怎么就跟你游到一块儿去了？”鱼太太恼怒地问道。“有人吗？”她又喊了起来。

“有人吗？”多莉一边说一边追寻着他们的声音。

当他们终于找到彼此时，这对夫妇震惊地发现这条小鱼居然是在独自游行。“噢，我的天啊，”鱼太太说，“她还是个孩子！”

多莉看到他们，很激动。“嗨！我是多莉！请问你能帮帮我吗？”她问道。

“啊，你好，多莉，”鱼太太答道，“你迷路了吗？”

“你父母在哪里？”斯坦问道。

“嗯，我不记得了。”多莉说。

“好吧，”斯坦说，“这样，我们先四处看看。这些鱼群之中有你的父母吗？”

多莉缓缓地转了一圈，看了看周围的鱼群。她回转身，面向这对夫妇，眨了眨眼睛。“嗨。我是多莉。请问你能帮帮我吗？”

夫妇俩交换了一下眼色。“亲爱的，刚才你已经说过这话了。”鱼太太说。

“我说了吗？”多莉问道。“对不起。我有短时记忆丧失症。”

“噢，这可太糟糕了。”鱼太太说。她把丈夫拉到一旁，问他觉得他们应该怎么办。可等她转过身来，多莉却走了！夫妇俩四处游动，呼喊着她的名字，想要找到她，可她却消失不见了。

多莉早已游了出去，忘记了刚才碰见的那对夫妇。

★★★

多莉孤身只影、惊恐不安地继续探寻着这片陌生的水域。太阳西下，海水变得越来越暗，也让人更加害怕。多莉在一处突出的岩石之下落脚，满眼含泪。她轻声唱着“不停地游啊游，不停地游啊游”，直到迷迷糊糊地进入梦乡。

★★★

多年之后，多莉继续向那些乐意倾听的鱼儿们寻求帮助。她遇见的鱼儿大都是深表同情。通常他们会说“真是抱歉，我们没法帮你”，或是“希望你能找到你所寻觅的东西”，或是“祝你好运”。可是如果她都不记得自己来自何方，大家又怎么帮助她呢？或者她最初丢失了什么？多莉不停地寻找着，却将一切都忘得一干二净。“我正在找某个东西，”她对一条友善的鱼儿说，“我……我只是不记得要找什么了。”多莉用双鳍拍了拍太阳穴，希望能唤醒点记忆。可这似乎没什么用。

后来，有一天，一艘小船从上方疾驰而过。吵闹的引擎声吓得其他鱼儿四处逃窜，可多莉却原地待着不动，好奇地望着那艘船驶过去。突然，她听到远处传来一个沉闷而惊慌的声音，于是缓缓地朝那里游了过去。

“一艘白色的船！”那声音喊道。“是一艘——他们把我的儿子带走了！我的儿子！我的儿子！帮帮我吧！求你们了！”

一条狂躁不安的小丑鱼不知从何处突然冒了出来。

“当心！”多莉大喊道，接着就猛地撞上了他。他被她弹了出去，重重地落在海底上。

“对不起！”多莉关切地说道。“我没看见你！”

在多莉查看他的伤势时，马林在呻吟着。“你还好吗？”

“他不见了，”这条小丑鱼大声说道。他匆忙地介绍自己名叫马林，接着就继续冲来撞去，发疯似的忧心他的儿子。

多莉试着一遍又一遍地安抚他，可却似乎没什么用。

“不，不——他们把他带走了。我必须找到那艘船！”马林说着游了出去。

“船？嘿，我刚看到了一艘船！”多莉说。

“你看到过？”马林停住，又朝多莉游了回来。

“是的。这边。它是朝这边走的！跟我来！”多莉加快速度，马林也跟了上去。

“谢谢你！万分感谢！”马林说，然后他们一起游走了。

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