Far, far away from his father, Nemo was plunged¹ into unfamiliar² water, where he landed on a plant of some kind. He peeked³ from behind the leafy fronds⁴ and called out, 'Dad?'

There was no answer.

He gazed at all the new sights around him. Small, strange objects were everywhere: a miniature pirate ship, a tiny treasure chest, some sort of hut, a volcano with red lights flashing along the sides to look like lava⁵, and finally, three giant tiki heads.

Terrified, Nemo tried to swim away. But instead, he bumped into a transparent⁷ wall—then another, and another. He was in some sort of glass box!

Outside one glass wall, people sat in a waiting room. On the other side, a dentist approached a patient. Nemo heard them speaking, so he swam closer to the sound of their voices. The dentist, Dr. Sherman, saw Nemo and walked over to the tank. 'Hello, little fellah,' he said to Nemo. Then he turned to his patient and told him, 'I found that guy struggling for life out on the reef and I saved him.'

Nemo watched the dentist for a few more moments, then began to hear whispering behind him. Scared, he slowly backed away from the voices and bumped into the treasure chest. Hundreds of tiny bubbles poured out.

'Buuuuuubbbbbles!' cried a voice. A yellow tang fish charged at Nemo. Nemo dodged⁸ the fish. Then he watched the fish attempt to put the bubbles back in the chest.

'My bubbles!' cried Bubbles, the yellow tang, protectively.

Nemo raced into a nearby diver's helmet. But as soon as he was hidden, he saw a dark figure approaching. It got closer and closer until it was looking at Nemo up close.

'Bonjour,' a tiny cleaner shrimp⁹ named Jacques said.

Nemo bolted out of the helmet and right into Bloat, a blowfish. 'Whoa! Take it easy. Slow down, little fellah. There's nothing to worry about,' Bloat said.

Nemo quickly looked around him and saw that he was surrounded by all kinds of fish. There were also a starfish named Peach, a black-and-white humbug¹⁰ named Deb, and a royal gramma named Gurgle.

'I wanna go home,' Nemo said to his audience. 'Do you know where my dad is?'

'Honey, your dad's probably back at the pet store,' Peach said.

Nemo looked at the starfish curiously¹¹. 'Pet store?' he asked.

All the fish chimed in at once. 'Pet Palace,' Gurgle said.

'Fish-O-Rama,' added Deb. 'Mail order,' said Bubbles.

Nemo still seemed a little confused. 'I'm from the ocean,' he timidly told the fish.

'The ocean?' Gurgle yelled.

The rest of the tank fish gasped¹².

'Wow. The big blue. What's it like?' asked Bubbles.

'Uh…' Nemo faltered¹³. 'Big… and blue.'

'I knew it!' Bubbles exclaimed.

'Kid, if there's anything you need, just ask your auntie Deb. Or if I'm not around, you can always talk to my sister, Flo.' Deb indicated her reflection in the glass. Nemo realized she thought it was her twin sister.

All of a sudden, Peach yelled out, 'Root canal!'

The Tank Gang raced toward Peach to see the dental procedure that was in progress. They all watched with great interest, commenting as the dentist worked.

Just then, a pelican¹⁴ flew into the open window by the fish tank. 'What did I miss?' the bird asked. 'Am I late?'

'Hey, Nigel,' Peach said to the pelican. 'Root canal, and it's a doozy.'

Nigel looked over at the tank and noticed the new little fish. 'Hello. Who's this?' he asked.

'New guy,' Deb said.

As Nigel leaned closer to the tank to give Nemo a proper hello, Dr. Sherman walked into the room. 'Hey!' he yelled. 'No, no, no! Those aren't your fish. Those are mine. Shoo!'

Nigel let out a loud squawk and flew away. As he took off, he knocked over some of Dr. Sherman's things.

The dentist leaned down and picked up a picture in a frame that had fallen to the floor and cracked. 'Hey, little fellah,' he said to Nemo. 'Say hello to your new mummy. She's gonna be here Friday to pick you up! You're her present …'

As soon as Dr. Sherman walked away, the Tank Gang began to mutter, 'Oh. Darla…not her…she's bad news.'

'What?' Nemo asked. 'What's wrong with her?'

'Poor Chuckles,' Deb said.

'He was her present last year,' said Bloat. 'She's a fish killer,' Peach added.

Nemo was horrified¹⁵. 'I can't go with that girl,' the little clownfish said. 'I have to get back to my dad.'

Getting more worried by the second, Nemo began to swim wildly around the tank. He ended up stuck in the filter tube. 'Help me!' he cried.

'Oh, no!' the Tank Gang yelled. 'We gotta get him outta there.'

They all rushed over to Nemo but stopped short when they heard someone say, 'Nobody touch him.'

They looked behind them and saw Gill, a moorish¹⁶ idol¹⁷ fish, come out of the shadows.

'Can you help me?' Nemo asked him, struggling.

'No. You got yourself in there, you can get yourself out,' Gill replied. He started to swim away, but decided¹⁸ to give the little fish a bit of helpful advice. 'Alternate wiggling your fins¹⁹ and tail.'

'I—I can't. I have a bad fin⁶,' Nemo said. 'Never stopped me,' Gill said, showing Nemo his own severed²⁰ pectoral fin. 'Just think about what you need to do.'

Nemo tried and tried, and with one last push, he freed himself.

The Tank Gang burst into cheers. 'Pretty good, kid. You did it!' they cried.

Gill didn't join in the celebration. He was in a corner, deep in thought.

Peach looked over at him and said, 'Uh-oh. I've seen that look before. What are you thinking about?'

'I'm thinkin'… tonight we give the kid a proper reception,' Gill said.

 

在一个遥远的、见不到父亲的地方，尼莫被扔进陌生的水里，跌落在某种植物上。他躲在茂盛的叶子后面向外瞅了瞅，大声呼唤：“老爸?”

没人回答。

他凝视着周围，一切都是新的。到处都是新奇的小东西：一艘微型的海盗船，一个小小的百宝箱，某种小屋子，一座火山，边上有红灯在闪烁，就像熔岩似的，最后还有三个巨大的提基头像。

尼莫吓坏了，想要逃走。但是，他却撞到了一面透明的墙上——接着撞到了第二面、第三面墙。他在某个玻璃箱子里！

在一面玻璃墙外面，人们坐在候诊室里。在另一边，一位牙医走近一位病人。尼莫听见他们在说话，于是向传来声音的地方游近一些。牙医谢尔曼看见了尼莫，于是走到了鱼缸边。“你好，小家伙。”他对尼莫说。然后，他转身面向他的病人，告诉他：“我发现这个小家伙在礁石上拼命挣扎，于是救了他。”

尼莫又看了牙医一会儿，然后听到身后传来低低的说话声。他有点害怕那些声音，于是慢慢地往后退，一不小心撞到了百宝箱。上百个小泡泡涌了出来。

“泡泡……泡泡……泡泡!”一个声音叫着。一条黄色的刺尾鱼向尼莫冲了过来。尼莫躲开这条鱼。接着，他看到这条鱼想要把泡泡塞回箱子。

“我的泡泡!”黄色的刺尾鱼“泡泡”大喊，充满着呵护。

尼莫赶紧钻进旁边的潜水员头盔里。但是，他刚藏起来，就看到过来一个黑影。黑影越来越近，最后靠近了尼莫，看着他。

“你好。”一只叫虾虾的小清洁虾说。

尼莫飞快地逃出头盔，正好撞到了河豚猪猪。“哇！放松点。慢点，小家伙。没什么好担心的。”猪猪说。

尼莫很快地看了看四周，发现他的周围是各种各样的鱼。还有一个叫“小桃”的海星，一条叫“漂漂”的黑白相间的宅泥鱼，和一条叫“胆小鬼”的皇家丝鲈。

“我想回家，”尼莫对他的围观者说，“你们知道我老爸在哪儿吗?”

“亲爱的，你老爸可能回宠物店了。”小桃说。

尼莫好奇地看着海星。“宠物店?”他问。

所有的鱼七嘴八舌地抢着说。“我来自宠物世界。”胆小鬼说。

“水族天地。”漂漂补充。“我是邮购的。”泡泡说。

尼莫看上去还是有点迷惑。“我从大海来的。”他胆怯地告诉其他鱼。

“大海?”胆小鬼喊。

鱼缸里其他的鱼一阵惊叹。

“哇。大海。大海什么样?”泡泡问。

“呃……”尼莫支支吾吾地说，“大……又蓝。”

“我就知道!”泡泡大喊。

“孩子，需要什么，就找你的漂漂阿姨。要是我不在，你可以跟我的妹妹亮亮说。”漂漂指着玻璃里自己的影子说道。尼莫明白了，她把那个当成了她的双胞胎妹妹。

突然，小桃大声喊道：“根管治疗!”

“鱼缸帮”冲到小桃身边，观看正在进行的牙齿治疗。牙医在工作时，他们都兴致勃勃地看着，还评头论足。

就在这时，一只鹈鹕从鱼缸边开着的窗户飞进来。“我错过了什么好戏?”这只鸟问道，“我来晚了吗?”

“嘿，大嘴哥，”小桃对鹈鹕说，“根管治疗，超赞的。”

大嘴哥打量了一下鱼缸，发现多了一条小鱼。“你好。这是谁?”他问。

“新来的。”漂漂说。

大嘴哥往鱼缸这边靠了靠，准备向尼莫正式问好，这时谢尔曼医生走进了房间。“喂!”他喊道，“不，不，不！那些鱼不是你的。是我的。嘘!”

大嘴哥大叫一声，飞走了。离开的时候，它还把谢尔曼医生的一些东西撞倒了。

牙医弯下腰，捡起相框里的照片，相框掉到地上摔坏了。“喂，小家伙，”他对尼莫说，“跟你的新妈咪问个好。她星期五会来这里接你！你是她的生日礼物……”

谢尔曼医生一走开，“鱼缸帮”就开始咕哝：“哦。达拉……不是她吧……她可是个坏消息。”

“什么?”尼莫问，“她怎么了?”

“可怜的查克斯。”漂漂说。

“他是达拉去年的礼物。”猪猪说。“她是小鱼杀手。”小桃补充。

尼莫吓坏了。“我不要跟那个女孩走，”可怜的小丑鱼说，“我要回去找我老爸。”

尼莫越来越担心，开始在鱼缸里拼命地游。最后，他卡在了过滤器里。“救救我啊!”他喊道。

“哦，不!”“鱼缸帮”大喊，“我们得把他弄出来。”

他们都冲到尼莫身边，但是当听到有人说“谁都别碰他”时，他们突然停了下来。

他们转身向后看，看见镰鱼吉哥从阴影里游了出来。

“你能帮帮我吗?”尼莫挣扎着问他。

“不能。你自己进去，就能自己出来。”吉哥回答。他正要游走，但还是决定给这条小鱼一点有用的建议。“轮流摆动你的鳍和尾巴。”

“我——我不行。我的鳍受伤了。”尼莫说。“对我就没影响，”吉哥说着把自己被割断的胸鳍展现给尼莫看，“专心想着你该怎么做。”

尼莫试了又试，最后猛地一推，终于挣脱出来。

“鱼缸帮”一阵欢呼。“很不错，孩子。你成功了!”他们尖叫着。

吉哥没有加入他们的庆祝。他在角落里，陷入了沉思。

小桃朝他看过去，说道：“哦——哦。我见过你这表情。你在想什么?”

“我在想……今天晚上我们要好好地欢迎一下这孩子。”吉哥说。

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