Outside the Institute, Marlin was freaking out. "Are you absolutely sure that's what I said? ‘Go wait over there and forget. It's what you do best'?"

"Yeah, Dad," said Nemo.

"I said that?" he asked again.

"You said that, Dory swam to the surface, and then she got taken —"

"All right, I don't need the whole story again, I was asking about one part." Marlin was pacing back and forth¹ as he talked. "Because look, if I said that — I'm not positive I did — but it's actually a compliment. Because I asked her to wait. I didn't say leave. And I said it's what you do best."

Nemo looked at his Dad incredulously.

"It's my fault!" Marlin threw his fins² in the air. "It's all my fault Dory got kidnapped and taken into —  whatever this place is! What if it's a restaurant?" he lamented³.

Marlin yelled so loud that a couple of plump sea lions, Fluke and Rudder, woke up with a snort. They'd been sleeping on a nearby rock and were not happy to be disturbed.

"Oy! You two! Shut it!" Fluke shouted.

"Yeah, we're trying to sleep," Rudder said. "And you interrupted my favorite dream!"

"The one about you layin' on this rock?" asked Fluke.

"Yeah."

"Oh, that's a good one."

"Uh, excuse us?" said Nemo. "Hello. We're trying —"

Marlin cut him off. "Son, son, son ...," he whispered, trying to scoot Nemo away. "These are sea lions. They are natural predators⁴. They could pounce⁵ at any moment!" One of the sea lions stretched open his mouth and let out a big, lazy yawn.

"They don't look very pouncy," said Nemo.

"That's what they want you to think. Just get behind me and let me do the talking," Marlin said. He cleared his throat and approached the sea lions.

"Excuse me. We're worried about our friend. Is that a restaurant?" Marlin pointed⁶ to the large building behind the rock.

"Nah, mate, it's not a restaurant," said Fluke, chuckling⁷. "Your friend is okay."

"She is?" asked Marlin.

"It's a fish hospital. Sigourney Weaver⁸ says she'll be rescued, rehabilitated⁹, and released," said Fluke.

"Yeah, she'll be in and out in a jiff," said Rudder. "We should know."

They lifted their tails to show tags that had been clipped on.

"Nasal Parasite," said Fluke, explaining.

"Anemia," said Rudder.

"All fixed¹⁰ up and sent on our way," said Fluke.

Marlin was relieved. "Oh, thank goodness."

"Sure, that's right, don't you worry about —"

Suddenly, a skinny sea lion carrying a green pail in his mouth appeared behind them, giggling¹¹ and creeping up the rock.

"Gerald! Get off the rock! Off! Off! Off! Off! Off!" Fluke barked.

"Oy!" yelled Rudder. "Shove off, Gerald!"

Rudder and Fluke continued to yell, scaring Gerald away from the rock and causing him to jump back into the ocean.

Once he was gone, Fluke and Rudder turned back to Marlin.

"Don't you worry," Fluke continued. "That place is the Marine¹² Life Institute: the Jewel of Morro Bay, California," he said.

"She was right!" said Nemo. "Well, Dad, looks like Dory can do something besides forget."

"Thank you, Nemo," said Marlin sarcastically¹³. "Thank you for that."

"So how are we gonna get inside?" asked Nemo.

"Oh, wait. You want to get inside the MLI?" asked Rudder.

"Desperately¹⁴! Our friend is in there, lost, alone. She's scared. She'll have no idea what to do," said Marlin.

"Oh," said Fluke with a smirk¹⁵. "We know a way."

"You do?" asked Marlin.

All of a sudden, Fluke and Rudder began cooing. "Oo-roo.Ooo-roo-rooo!"

"What are they doing?" asked Nemo.

"I don't know," said Marlin. "It sounds bad."

 

在研究所外面，马林感到惶恐不安。“你真的确定我当时是这么说的吗？‘去那边待着，然后忘掉。这是你最擅长的’？”

“是的，爸爸。”尼莫说。

“我是这么说的？”他又问道。

“你是这么说的，于是多莉游向海面，然后就被抓走了——”

“好吧，我不想再提整个经过了，我只是在问这段细节，”马林一边说一边慢慢游动着，“因为，你瞧，如果我是那么说的——虽然我不确信自己是不是那么说的——可那其实是一种赞美。因为我让她等着。我没说让她走。而且我还说了那是她所擅长的。”

尼莫满脸狐疑地望着他的爸爸。

“这都是我的错！”马林将双鳍甩向半空中。“都是因为我，多莉才会被拐走带到——这个不知道是什么的地方！这要是个餐馆可怎么办？”他哀叹道。

马林叫嚷着，声音大得吵得两头圆滚滚的海狮也呼哧呼哧地醒了过来。他们是正在附近岩石上睡觉的弗卢克和鲁德尔，此刻被搅了清净，很是不悦。

“喂！你们两个！闭嘴！”弗卢克喊道。

“是啊，我们正要睡觉，”鲁德尔说，“你们搅了我的美梦！”

“是那个你躺在这块岩石上的梦吗？”弗卢克问。

“是的。”

“哦，那确实是个美梦。”

“嗯，请原谅？”尼莫说，“你们好。我们正要——”

马林打断了他。“儿子，儿子，儿子……”他低声说道，想要快点弄走尼莫，“这可是海狮啊。他们是天生的食肉动物。随时可能突袭！”其中一只海狮张大嘴巴，懒洋洋地打了个大哈欠。

“他们看起来不像会要突袭啊。”尼莫说。

“他们就是想让你这么觉得。躲在我的身后，让我来说。”马林说。他清了清嗓子，靠近海狮。

“不好意思，我们很担心我们的朋友。那里是一家餐馆吗？”马林指了指岩石后方的大型建筑物。

“不是的，老弟，不是餐馆，”弗卢克咯咯笑道，“你朋友没事的。”

“她会没事？”马林问。

“这是一家鱼类医院。西格妮·韦弗的主张是救援、治疗和放生。”弗卢克说。

“是的，她进去了瞬间就会出来，”鲁德尔说，“我们都知道。”

他们抬起尾巴，露出了夹在上面的标签。

“我是鼻寄生虫病。”弗卢克解释道。

“我是贫血。”鲁德尔说。

“都治好就放我们回来了。”弗卢克说。

马林松了口气：“啊，谢天谢地。”

“当然了，可不是。你们不用担心——”

突然，一只瘦削的海狮出现在了他们身后，他嘴里叼着一个绿色的提桶，傻笑着爬上了岩石。

“杰拉尔德！快从岩石上下去！下去！下去！下去！下去！下去！”弗卢克咆哮道。

“喂！”鲁德尔喊道，“走开，杰拉尔德！”

鲁德尔和弗卢克不停地吼叫，吓得杰拉尔德爬下岩石，跳回到了海洋里。

等他一走，弗卢克和鲁德尔又朝马林转过身来。

“你们不用担心。”弗卢克接着说道，“那个地方是海洋生物研究所，俗称加利福尼亚的明珠莫罗湾。”他说。

“她没说错！”尼莫说，“嗯，爸爸，看来多莉能干点有记性的事了。”

“谢谢你，尼莫，”马林讥讽道，“谢谢你这么说。”

“那我们怎么进去呢？”尼莫问。

“啊，等等。你们想到海洋生物研究所里面去？”鲁德尔问。

“拼了命也要去！我们的朋友就在里面，迷茫无助，孤立无援。她很害怕。她会不知所措的。”马林说。

“啊，”弗卢克得意地笑道，“我们有个办法。”

“你们有办法？”马林问。

突然间，弗卢克和鲁德尔咕咕地叫了起来：“呜——噜。呜——噜——噜！”

“他们在干什么？”尼莫问。

“我不知道，”马林说，“听上去不太妙。”

点击收听单词发音