Deep in the ocean, the morning sun's rays shone through the water. Inside an anemone¹, an excited young clownfish jumped awake. "First day of school!" he shouted to his father. "Wake up! Come on!" "I don't want to go to school," Marlin muttered.

"Not you, Dad. Me!" Nemo cried. "Huh?" Marlin shook himself awake.

"All right, I'm up. It's time for school."

"It's time for school!" Nemo repeated in a singsong voice. He'd never been to school before. He was excited about exploring the ocean with his class. Visiting different places. Trying different things!

He'd never been far from his anemone home—and he couldn't wait to see more of the ocean.

Nemo somersaulted and accidentally crashed out of the anemone. Before he knew it, he was stuck headfirst in some coral.

"Nemo!" Marlin shouted, fully² awake. He raced outside.

"First day of school! First day of school!" Nemo sang in a muffled³ voice.

Quickly, Marlin pulled him from the coral, then tugged⁴ him inside their home.

"All right, where's the break?" he asked Nemo in an anxious voice. "Are you woozy? How many stripes do I have?"

"I'm fine." Nemo knew his dad was worried. He always worried.

"Answer the stripe question!" Marlin demanded.

"Three," Nemo replied.

Marlin sighed, relieved. "How's the lucky fin⁵?"

Nemo glanced down at his fin. It was withered⁶, a little misshapen from his encounter with the barracuda when he was still an egg. "Lucky."

"Now, are you sure you want to go to school this year?" Marlin asked. "You can wait five or six years."

No way, Nemo thought. "Dad, it's time for school!" he repeated.

Marlin looked around. What could keep Nemo home, safe and sound, if only for a few more minutes? "Aha!" he cried. "You forgot to brush!"

Brushing was very important, Nemo knew. Clownfish lived in anemone homes because the anemones⁷' fronds⁸ were poisonous and protected the little fish from predators⁹. Brushing up against the anemone stingers, a little bit every day, made the clownfish immune to the poison.

Nemo backed up into a tendril and brushed against it. "Okay, I'm done!" he said quickly.

"You missed a spot," said Marlin. "Where?" Nemo asked.

"There!" Marlin tickled¹⁰ Nemo under a fin. "And right there." He tickled Nemo under his other fin.

Nemo giggled¹¹, and together they swam out the door.

"Dad, maybe while I'm at school I'll see a shark!" Nemo said excitedly. Then he asked, "How old are sea turtles?"

"I—I don't know," Marlin admitted. "Sandy Plankton¹², from next door, said that sea turtles live to be about a hundred years old!" Nemo cried.

"Well, if I ever meet a sea turtle, I'll ask him," Marlin said.

Father and son were approaching the schoolyard now.

Two young fish tossed a shell back and forth¹³, playing catch. "Come on, you guys! Stop it! Give that back!" A hermit¹⁴ crab¹⁵ shouted at them.

"I wonder where we're supposed to go," Marlin said, looking around. He spotted¹⁶ a group of fathers. "Come on. We'll try over here."

"Excuse me," Marlin said, approaching the other dads. "Is this where we meet his teacher?"

The other fish looked at him, surprised. "Well," the sea horse said, "look who's out of the anemone!" Then he turned toward a group of children playing in the nearby sand. "Sheldon!" the father called to his son. "Get out of Mr. Johannsen's yard. Now!"

The giant flounder that the small fish were playing on suddenly sprang from his resting place in the sand. The children scattered¹⁷, chasing each other, playing tag.

"Dad!" Nemo whispered. "Can I go play, too?"

"I would feel better if you'd play on the sponge beds," Marlin replied.

Nemo glanced at the soft, springy sponge beds. Little newborn fish jumped on them, their mothers watching carefully. He wasn't going over there—that was for babies!

Just then some children raced up. They were about Nemo's age. They looked at him curiously¹⁸.

"What's wrong with his fin?" asked a pink octopus¹⁹ named Pearl.

"He looks funny," said Tad, a butterfly fish. "Be nice," Tad's dad warned. "It's his first time at school."

"See this tentacle²⁰?" Pearl asked Nemo. "It's actually shorter than all my other tentacles²¹, but you can't really tell."

"I'm H2O intolerant," said Sheldon.

"Achoo!"

"I'm obnoxious," said Tad.

Just then a big blue manta ray swam up to the reef. "Mr. Ray!" shouted the children, rushing over to the teacher.

"Come aboard, explorers," said Mr. Ray. The children lined up in front of their teacher. Nemo joined them, with Marlin right by his side.

Nemo turned red. "Dad, you can go now," he whispered. But Marlin stayed right where he was.

One by one, the children climbed aboard Mr. Ray.

"Well, hello," Mr. Ray said when Nemo reached him. "Who is this?"

"I'm Nemo."

"Well, Nemo, all new explorers must answer a science question," Mr. Ray said. "You live in what kind of home?"

"In an anemon-ene… amanemone…ammeneme…anemone," Nemo said, struggling to say the word.

"Okay, okay, don't hurt yourself," Mr. Ray said. "Welcome aboard, explorer!"

"Just so you know," Marlin added quietly, "he's got a little fin. I find if he's having trouble swimming, I let him take a break— ten, fifteen minutes—"

"Dad," Nemo said, annoyed, "it's time for you to go now!"

"Don't worry," Mr. Ray told Marlin. "We're gonna stay together as a group."

"Bye, Dad!" Nemo shouted as Mr. Ray swam away with the students.

"Bye, son!" Marlin called. "Be safe," he said to himself.

Sheldon's dad turned to Marlin. "Hey, you're doing pretty well for a first-timer."

"Well, you can't hold on to them forever, can you?" Marlin replied.

"Yeah, I had a tough time when my oldest went out on the Drop-off," Tad's dad said.

"The Drop-off?" Marlin shouted. "Why don't we just fry them up now and serve them with chips?"

Without any hesitation²², he raced after Nemo.

 

在大海深处，清晨的阳光透过水面照射下来。在一株海葵里，一条年幼的小丑鱼醒过来，兴奋地跳了起来。“第一天上学!”他冲着父亲大声喊道，“起床了！快点儿!”“我不想去上学。”马林咕哝着。

“不是你，老爸。是我!”尼莫大喊。“啊?”马林把自己晃醒。

“好吧，我起床了。该上学了。”

“该上学了!”尼莫和尚念经似的重复道。他从来没有上过学。他对可以和同学们一起探索海洋感到很兴奋。去不同的地方。尝试不同的事情！

他还从没有离开过自己的海葵屋呢——他迫不及待地想看到更广阔的大海。

尼莫翻了个跟斗，不小心砸到了海葵外面。等他反应过来，已经一头栽进珊瑚里了。

“尼莫!”马林大喊着，人已经完全清醒。他飞奔着冲了出去。

“第一天上学！第一天上学!”尼莫低声地唱着歌。

马林飞快地把他从珊瑚里拉出来，然后把他拖回家。

“好吧，哪里受伤了?”他急切地询问尼莫，“你头晕吗？我身上有几道条纹?”

“我很好。”尼莫知道爸爸很担心。他总是焦虑不安。

“快回答条纹这个问题!”马林要求道。

“三道。”尼莫回答。

马林如释重负地叹了口气。“你的幸运鳍怎么样?”

尼莫往下瞥了一眼他的鱼鳍。它萎缩了，这点残缺是尼莫还是鱼卵的时候遭遇梭鱼造成的。“幸运着呢。”

“那么，你确定今年要去上学吗?”马林问，“再等个五六年也可以。”

没门儿，尼莫想。“老爸，该去上学了!”他又重复了一遍。

马林四下张望着。怎么样才能让尼莫安然无恙地待在家里呢？哪怕多待几分钟都行。“啊哈!”他叫了出来，“你忘了擦防护油!”

尼莫知道擦防护油很重要。小丑鱼住在海葵屋里，因为海葵的触手有毒，能够保护小鱼不被捕食。小丑鱼如果每天擦一点儿海葵毒刺的防护液，就可以对毒素产生免疫力。

尼莫往后退，钻进一根触手，擦了防护液。“好了，我擦好啦!”他马上说。

“有个地方没擦到。”马林说。“哪儿?”尼莫问道。

“那儿!”马林咯吱着尼莫的鱼鳍。“还有那儿。”又咯吱尼莫的另一只鱼鳍。

尼莫咯咯地笑着，他们一起游出了家门。

“老爸，我在学校的时候，可能会看到鲨鱼!”尼莫兴奋地说道。然后他问：“海龟能活多少岁?”

“我——我不知道。”马林承认。“隔壁的山迪叔叔说，海龟差不多可以活到一百岁!”尼莫大喊。

“好吧，要是碰到海龟，我就问问他。”马林说。

父子俩此刻快游到校园了。

两条小鱼一来一回地扔着贝壳，练习投球，“拜托，你们这些家伙！快停下！把东西还给我!”一只寄生蟹冲他们大喊。

“不知道我们该往哪里走。”马林一边说，一边东张西望。他看到一群父亲。“快点儿。我们来这儿。”

“打扰一下，”马林靠近其他爸爸，说道，“这是我们会见老师的地方吗?”

其他鱼吃惊地看着他。“哟，”海马说，“看看是谁从海葵屋里出来了!”然后，他转向在附近沙子里玩耍的一群孩子。“希顿!”这位父亲呼喊着自己的儿子，“从约翰森先生的院子里出来。马上!”

小鱼们本来在巨大的比目鱼身上玩耍，不料比目鱼突然从休息的沙地上跳了起来。孩子们四下散开，追来追去地玩捉迷藏。

“老爸!”尼莫低声叫着，“我也可以去玩吗?”

“如果你在那些海绵垫子上玩的话，我会比较安心。”马林回答。

尼莫瞅了瞅柔软而有弹性的海绵垫子。刚出生的小鱼宝宝在上面跳来跳去，那些妈妈们小心翼翼地看护着。他绝不会去那儿——那是鱼宝宝玩的!

就在这时，冲过来一群孩子。他们跟尼莫年纪相仿。他们好奇地盯着他。

“他的鳍怎么了?”一只名叫珍珠的粉红色章鱼问道。

“他看上去很好笑。”蝶鱼泰迪说。“要有礼貌，”泰迪的爸爸提醒他，“他是第一次来上学。”

“看见这只触角了吗?”珍珠问尼莫，“其实它比我其他的触角都短，但是你几乎看不出来。”

“我对海水过敏。”希顿说。

“阿嚏!”

“我惹人厌。”泰迪说。

就在这时，一条大大的蓝色魔鬼鱼游到礁石上。“雷老师!”孩子们大声喊着，纷纷冲到老师身边。

“上船了，探险家们。”雷老师说。孩子们在老师面前排起了队。尼莫也站在队伍里，马林就站在他旁边。

尼莫的脸都红了。“老爸，你现在可以走了。”他小声说。但是马林站在原地一动不动。

孩子们一个接一个地爬到雷老师身上。

“嗯，你好，”尼莫走到他跟前时，雷老师说道，“你是谁?”

“我是尼莫。”

“好吧，尼莫，新来的探险家都得回答一个科学问题，”雷老师说，“你住在什么样的房子里?”

“在海……海……葵……葵……里。”尼莫很费劲儿地说出这个词。

“好了，好了，别难为自己了，”雷老师说，“欢迎登船，探险家!”

“想让您知道一下，”马林轻声说道，“他有只鳍很小。如果发现他游不动了，我会让他休息一会儿——十，十五分钟——”

“老爸，”尼莫恼火地说，“你该走了!”

“别担心，”雷老师告诉马林，“我们会集体行动。”

“再见，老爸!”雷老师和学生们一起游走时，尼莫大声喊着。

“再见，儿子!”马林喊着。“注意安全。”他自言自语道。

希顿的老爸转向马林。“嘿，作为第一次送孩子上学的父母，你做得很不错。”

“嗯，你不可能守着他们一辈子，是吧?”马林回答。

“是啊，我家老大去峭壁时，我总是不放心。”泰迪的老爸说。

“峭壁?”马林大声叫道，“干吗现在不把他们油炸了，跟薯条一起端上桌呢?”

他毫不犹豫地去追尼莫。

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