A little while later, Marlin was swimming along the ocean floor. Dory trailed close behind.

All at once, Marlin stopped short. They were at the edge of a long, dark, spooky-looking trench¹.

"Okay, let's go!" Dory cried.

"Bad trench. Come on," he told Dory. "We're gonna swim over this thing."

Dory shook her head. "Whoa, partner. Little red flag goin' up. Something's telling me we should swim through it, not over it."

Marlin's jaw² dropped. "Are you even looking at this thing? It's got death written all over it!"

"I'm sorry. But I really, really, really think we should swim through. Come on, trust me on this."

"Trust you?" Marlin asked.

"Yes. Trust. It's what friends do," Dory said.

"Look!" Marlin said, trying to distract Dory. "Something shiny." "Where?" said Dory.

"Oh, it just swam over the trench. Come on, we'll follow it," Marlin said.

"Okay!" Dory happily agreed, forgetting about the moonfish's warning.

The two fish swam over the trench to clear blue water. In the distance they could see the fast-moving East Australian Current.

"We should be there in no time," said Marlin.

Dory wasn't listening. She was staring at a tiny jellyfish floating just in front of her. She moved closer. "Hey, little guy."

"You wanted to go through the trench," Marlin said with a laugh.

Dory reached for the jellyfish. "I shall call him Squishy. And he shall be my Squishy. Come here, little Squishy!"

But as Dory tried to touch the jellyfish, it stung her. "Ow!" she shouted.

"Dory!" Marlin gasped³. "That's a jellyfish!"

"Bad Squishy!" Dory said as Marlin pushed the jellyfish away from her.

"Shoo! Get away!" he said. Then he turned to Dory.

"Come here. Let me see that." Marlin held Dory's fin⁴ to examine the sting. Neither of them noticed more and more jellyfish swimming closer. The jellyfish were floating down from above.

"Hey, how come it didn't sting you?" Dory asked.

"It did," Marlin answered. "It's just that I live in this anemone⁵ and I'm used to these kinds of stings. It doesn't look too bad," he told Dory. "You're gonna be fine. But now we know, don't we, that we don't want to touch these again. Let's be thankful this time it was just a little one."

As they turned to go, hundreds of jellyfish blocked their path. Marlin couldn't believe his eyes. This was seriously dangerous.

"Don't move!" he ordered.

More and more jellyfish were coming. There were jellyfish as far as he could see!

"This is bad, Dory." Marlin looked around. Dory was bouncing on top of a large jellyfish like it was a trampoline.

"Hey, watch this! Boing! Boing!" She laughed. "You can't catch me," she called to Marlin.

Oh, no, Marlin thought. She thinks this is fun.

He reached for her, but she bounced onto another jellyfish. Marlin closed his eyes, not wanting to see his friend get hurt again. But Dory didn't scream. Marlin opened his eyes and saw her happily bouncing along. Then he remembered that the tops of jellyfish don't sting.

"All right, listen to me!" he said to Dory. "I have an idea—a game."

"I love games!" Dory cried.

"All right. Here's the game: whoever can hop⁶ the fastest out of these jellyfish wins," Marlin said.

"Okay! Okay!" Dory exclaimed.

"Rules, rules, rules! You can't touch the tentacles⁷. Only the tops," Marlin ordered.

"Something about tentacles. Got it," Dory said. "On your mark. Get set. Go!"

Dory took off jumping. Marlin followed slowly behind. "Now, be careful," he told himself.

"Wheeeeee!" Dory giggled⁸, leaping from one jellyfish to the next.

Marlin moved faster, trying to keep up. Boing! This was… kind of fun! He was actually having a good time!

"Dory, are you hungry?" asked Marlin. "Huh? Hungry?" Dory said.

"Yeah, ‘cause you're about to eat my bubbles!" Marlin cried.

Then he bounded out of the jellyfish forest, feeling the pull of the East Australian Current nearby. "The clownfish is the winner!" he shouted to Dory. "We did it!"

But Dory wasn't there.

"Oh, no!" Marlin groaned⁹. He darted¹⁰ back to find her.

"Dory?" he called, peering through the jellyfish. Then he spotted¹¹ her—wrapped up tight in a jellyfish's tentacles.

Without even thinking, Marlin pushed through the other jellyfish. He shot straight through the giant tentacles and grabbed Dory.

Marlin was a fish on a mission—to save Dory. "Am I disqualified?" she asked, barely able to speak.

"You're actually winning. But you've got to stay awake!" Marlin said.

Marlin held Dory with one fin. He paddled with the other. The water was thick with jellyfish. He could see one small patch of blue ahead. He had to reach it!

Barreling through the jellyfish, he shielded Dory with his body. As he went, he was stung again and again. With each new sting, he slowed down. He grew weaker. "Stay awake!" he kept saying—to Dory and to himself.

"Stay…" With his last bit of strength, Marlin pushed past a gigantic jellyfish. "…awake."

He floated into the safety of the clear open water.

Weary, he saw something up ahead. Something big and green and moving very slowly… and then everything went black.

 

过了一会儿，马林在海底游着。多莉紧随其后。

突然，马林猛地停下。他们来到一处狭长、黑暗而且阴森森的海沟的边缘。

“好了，我们走吧!”多莉喊。

“这海沟很危险。快点，”他告诉多莉，“我们还是从它上面游过去吧。”

多莉摇了摇头。“喔，伙伴。有点不对劲。有人说过，我们应该穿过去，不能从上面游过去。”

马林惊讶极了，问道：“你都不打算察看一下这里的情况吗？这地方到处都阴森森的!”

“对不起。但是我真的，真的，真的认为我们应该穿过去。好了，这事就相信我吧。”

“相信你?”马林问。

“是的。信任。朋友之间就该互相信任。”多莉说。

“瞧!”马林说道，想要分散多莉的注意力，“有东西在发光。”“哪儿?”多莉说。

“哦，它从海沟上面游过去了。快点儿，我们跟上去。”马林说。

“好的!”多莉高兴地同意了，把翻车鱼的提醒忘得一干二净。

两条鱼从海沟上面游到了清澈湛蓝的海域。在远处，他们可以看到快速流动的东澳大利亚洋流。

“我们应该马上赶过去。”马林说。

多莉没在听。她盯着一只正好在她面前漂浮的小水母。她游得靠近了些：“嘿，小家伙。”

“你还想穿过海沟呢。”马林大笑着说。

多莉伸手去摸这只水母。“我要叫他柔柔。他就是我的柔柔。过来，小柔柔!”

但是，当多莉想要摸这只水母的时候，他蜇了她。“哎哟!”她大叫起来。

“多莉!”马林倒抽了一口气，大叫道，“那是水母!”

“坏柔柔!”马林把水母从多莉身边推开时，多莉说道。

“嘘！走开!”他说。然后他转向多莉。

“过来。让我瞧瞧。”马林握住多莉的鳍，检查蜇伤的地方。他们都没有注意到越来越多的水母游过来了。成群的水母正从上面往下游。

“嘿，它怎么不蜇你呢?”多莉问。

“它也蜇的，”马林回答，“只不过因为我住在海葵里，对这样的蜇伤习惯了。看上去不太严重，”他告诉多莉：“你会好起来的。但是，现在我们知道了，对不对，我们不要再碰到这些东西了。我们要庆幸，这次只是一只小水母。”

他们正想转身离开时，成百上千只水母挡住了他们的路。马林觉得难以置信。这极其危险。

“别动!”他命令道。

越来越多的水母过来了。在他的视线范围内全是水母！

“这下糟了，多莉。”马林环顾四周。多莉正在一只大水母的顶部跳上跳下，好像它是一个蹦床。

“喂，瞧啊！嘣！嘣!”她大笑着。“你抓不到我。”她向马林大喊。

哦，不，马林想。她还觉得这很好玩。

他伸手去抓她，可是她跳到另一只水母上了。马林闭上眼睛，不想看到他的朋友再次受伤。但是，多莉并没有尖叫。马林睁开眼睛，看见她快乐地向前跳着。这时他想起来，水母的顶部不蜇人。

“好吧，听我说!”他对多莉说，“我有个主意——我们来玩个游戏。”

“我喜欢游戏!”多莉喊道。

“好吧。游戏是这样的：谁能最快从这些水母当中跳出去，谁就赢了。”马林说。

“好的！好的!”多莉大喊。

“规则，规则，规则！不能摸这些触须。只能碰上面。”马林下令道。

“有关触须的。知道了，”多莉说，“各就各位。预备，跳!”

多莉开始跳了。马林慢慢地跟在后面。“现在，要小心。”他喃喃自语。

“哟……哟!”多莉咯咯地笑着，从一只水母跳到下一只水母。

马林加快了速度，想要赶上她。嘣！这是……有点好玩！他其实玩得很开心！

“多莉，你饿吗?”马林问。“啊？饿?”多莉说。

“是的，因为你要吃到我的泡泡了!”马林喊道。

然后，他跳出了水母森林，感受到了附近东澳大利亚洋流的牵引。“小丑鱼赢了!”他对着多莉大叫。“我们成功了!”

但是，多莉不在那里。

“哦，不!”马林呻吟道。他赶紧冲回去找她。

“多莉?”他大喊，在水母中仔细地搜寻。接着，他发现了她——被一只水母的触须紧紧地缠绕着。

马林不假思索地从其他水母中间挤过去。他直接从巨大的触须中冲过去，抓住了多莉。

马林要执行一项任务——营救多莉。“我输了吗?”她问，几乎不能说话。

“其实你赢了。但是你得保持清醒!”马林说。

马林用一只鳍抱住多莉。他用另一只鳍划水。水里到处都是水母。他只能看见前方一小块蓝色。他必须到那儿！

他用自己的身体护住多莉，在水母中飞奔。他前进时，被蜇了一次又一次。他每次被蜇时，都会慢下来。他越来越虚弱。“保持清醒!”他一直说着——对多莉说，也是对他自己说。

“保持……”马林用他最后一点儿力气，从一只巨大的水母身边挤过去，“……清醒。”

他漂到了清澈开阔的安全海域。

他筋疲力尽，看见前面有某种东西。某种很大、移动得很慢的绿色东西……接着，眼前一片漆黑。

点击收听单词发音