"Daddy! Help me!" Nemo shouted, realizing that he was in danger.

Marlin shook himself out of his daze¹. "Coming, Nemo!"

Mr. Ray led the other children to safety. Marlin started toward Nemo. A second diver suddenly appeared. He grabbed for Marlin. Marlin darted² away, but he couldn't get around the diver. He couldn't get closer to Nemo. He could only watch as the first diver's net fell over his little son.

"No!" Marlin screamed. "Nemo!"

Nemo was being pulled to the surface of the water… farther and farther away…

The divers³ disappeared into the boat. Marlin raced toward it, but the boat's motor started and the force of the propeller⁴ pushed him back.

Still, Marlin swam with all his might. If he could just catch up… just get closer… maybe he could save Nemo.

Above the surface, the boat rocked from side to side in the choppy water. Splash! A diver's mask fell overboard.

Marlin swam as fast as he could in the boat's wake, but the boat sped ahead, leaving him behind. Soon it was just a speck⁵ on the horizon. And then it completely disappeared.

"Nemo! No!" Marlin shouted. He ducked underwater. "Has anybody seen a boat? Please? A white boat?" he called to a school of passing fish. "They took my son! Help me!"

No one answered. They just kept swimming, bumping into Marlin as they rushed along.

One of the fish bumped him a little too hard and he was knocked down to the ocean floor.

Dazed, Marlin looked up to see a regal blue tang fish rushing over to him.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you! Sir, are you okay?" the blue tang asked.

"He's gone." Marlin groaned⁶. "They took him away. I have to find the boat."

"A boat?" the blue tang asked. "Hey, I've seen a boat."

Marlin perked⁸ up a bit. "You have?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," the fish said. "And it passed by not too long ago."

"A white one?" Marlin asked.

The blue tang stuck out her fin⁷ and said, "Hi. I'm Dory."

"Where?" Marlin said, ignoring Dory's greeting. "Which way?"

"Oh!" said Dory. "It went this way! Follow me."

Dory led Marlin away from the reef, toward the open ocean.

"Thank you so much," said Marlin.

"No problem," Dory said, swimming along quickly.

Bit by bit, she slowed down. She glanced back at Marlin with a strange expression. Then she sped up. She swerved⁹ all around.

Is she trying to lose me? Marlin wondered. Finally, Dory hid behind a giant plant. Marlin swam past. Then she darted out and swam the other way.

Marlin spied her and spun¹⁰ around, too. "Will you quit it? I'm trying to swim here."

"What? The ocean isn't big enough for you?" Dory cried. "Stop following me, okay?"

Marlin was totally confused. "What are you talking about? You're showing me which way the boat went."

Dory bobbed excitedly. "A boat? Hey, I've seen a boat. It passed by not too long ago. It—it went… um, this way! Follow me!" "Wait a minute!" Marlin cried. "What is going on? You already told me which way the boat was going!"

"I did?" Dory looked embarrassed. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry. See, I suffer from short-term memory loss. I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family. At least I think it does. Uh… hmm, where are they?"

She gazed into the distance, trying to remember. Then she looked at Marlin. "Can I help you?"

"You're wasting my time. I have to find my son," Marlin said.

Marlin turned tail to leave. But instead of swimming away, he could only gasp¹¹.

He was face to face with a very large shark!

 

“老爸！救救我!”尼莫大喊，意识到自己身处险境。

马林抖动身体，从恍惚中回过了神。“我来了，尼莫!”

雷老师把其他孩子带到安全地带。马林朝着尼莫猛地冲过去。又一个潜水员突然出现了。他要抓马林。马林飞快地游走了，但是他到不了潜水员身边。他无法再靠近尼莫。他只能眼睁睁地看着第一个潜水员用渔网罩住了他幼小的儿子。

“不!”马林尖叫道，“尼莫!”

尼莫被拽往水面……越来越远……

潜水员消失在小船里。马林朝着船的方向迅速地冲过去，但是船启动了发动机，螺旋桨的动力把他推向了后方。

但是，马林还是竭尽全力地游着。如果他能赶上……再靠近一点……也许他就能救出尼莫。

海面上，小船在起伏的波浪里左右摇晃着。扑通！潜水员的面罩掉进了水里。

马林尽可能快地在后面尾随着小船游，但是船飞速向前，把他甩在了后面。很快，它就成了海平面上的一个小点。然后，它彻底消失了。

“尼莫！不!”马林喊道。他潜入水里。“有人看到一艘船吗？求你们了？一艘白色的船?”他冲着游过的一群鱼大喊，“他们带走了我的儿子！帮帮我!”

没有人回答。他们只是游啊游，往前冲的时候还撞到了马林。

有条鱼重重地撞了他一下，他被撞倒跌入了海底。

马林头晕目眩，抬起头才发现一条帝王蓝刺尾鱼向他冲了过来。

“哦！对不起，我没看见你！先生，你还好吗?”蓝刺尾鱼问。

“他不见了。”马林呻吟着，“他们把他带走了。我必须找到那艘船。”

“船?”蓝刺尾鱼问，“嘿，我看到过一艘船。”

马林有了点精神。“你看到过?”他问。

“嗯，”这条鱼说，“不久前，那艘船刚刚经过。”

“一艘白色的船?”马林问。

蓝刺尾鱼伸出自己的鳍说：“你好，我是多莉。”

“在哪儿?”马林问道，对多莉的问候置之不理，“往哪个方向去了?”

“哦!”多莉说，“往这边走了！跟我来。”

多莉领着马林离开大堡礁，朝公海游了过去。

“太谢谢你了。”马林说。

“不用谢。”多莉说，快速向前游着。

渐渐地，她放慢了速度。她回头看了马林一眼，表情很奇怪。然后，又加快了速度。她突然转弯。

她想甩了我？马林很纳闷。最后，多莉藏在一棵巨大的植物后面。马林从旁边经过。然后她飞快地跑出来，向另一个方向游去。

马林发现了她，也转了个身。“你能不能别老是跟着我？我想在这儿游一会儿。”

“什么？大海这么大，还不够你游的吗?”多莉大喊，“别跟着我了，行吗?”

马林彻底糊涂了。“你在说什么？你在带我找那艘船呢。”

多莉兴奋地点点头。“一艘船？嘿，我看到船了。刚刚经过。船——船往……嗯，这边开了！跟我来!”“等等!”马林喊，“怎么回事？你已经告诉过我船往哪儿开了!”

“我说过了?”多莉很不好意思，“哦，不！我很抱歉。看，我有短期失忆症。我几乎马上就会忘掉刚刚发生的事情。这是家族遗传。至少我这么认为。呃……嗯，我的家人呢?”

她凝望着远处，试着去记忆。过了一会儿她又看着马林，问道：“需要我帮忙吗?”

“你这是浪费我的时间。我必须找到我的儿子。”马林说。

马林扭头准备离开。但是，他不能离开，而只能倒吸一口冷气。

他迎头碰上了一条非常大的鲨鱼！

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