49. underwater adventure

　　finding nemo1 is about the traumatic2 separation of a child from his parent. the refreshing difference here is that nemo dramatizes the anxiety and adventures a parent undergoes searching for his wayward, precious kid. long before nemo comes along, marlin is a fussy3 little anxiety machine . when he learns he’s to be a father — of 400 baby clown fish — he fidgets:“what if they don’t like me?”but he’s right to be concerned for his brood in the fish-eat-fish world of austria’s great barrier reef. a shark devours marlin’s wife and 399 of her eggs. that leaves little nemo — the one survivor, handicapped with an underdeveloped fin — and marlin, burdened with an overdeveloped sense of dread. when nemo is old enough for fish school, dad’s pessimism is again validated: the lad defiantly swims into open water, where he is scooped up by an angler — a dentist, with an aquarium in his office and a nasty, piscicidal little niece he can’t wait to give this cute clown fish to. marlin, who must now conquer his own fear of the great wet world, has a companion in his search: dory, a blue tang with a sunny disposition and a short-term memory problem. in their hunt for nemo , they are aided and threatened by all manner of sea creatures: a menacing anglerfish, some not entirely trustworthy members of sharks anonymous, a school of shocking jellyfish and a family of surfer-dude sea turtles. in captivity, nemo finds his own friends: the starfish, and the tank commander gill, a tough who mutters4 ,“fish ain’t meant to be in a box. ”

　　nemo’s short fin — a deformity that does not slow him down one bit — became , says stanton,“ a metaphor for anything you worry is insufficient or hasn’t formed yet in your child. parents think their child’s handicap is a reflection of the parent. 5 they become obsessive and anxious over that, whether it is the child’s ability to read or the way they walk. this movie says there is no perfect kid ; there is no perfect father. ”and no guarantee that parents will ever have the answers. when marlin asks the sea turtle crush how a father knows when his kids are ready to swim out on their own, the wise old dude replies, “ well , you never really know . but when they know , you know — y’know ? ”finding nemo is about feeling one ’s way6 to knowing. it’s about letting go and getting back.

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. write sentences with the following combinations o f words :

　　1. anxiety searching wayward 2. hunt aid threaten 3. feel one’s way

　　Ⅱ. question :

　　is finding nemo just a movie about the separation of a child from his father? if not, then what can you learn from it?

　　参考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. the movie dramatized the anxiety a parent undergoes in searching his wayward kid.

　　2. in their hunt of nemo, they are aided and threatened by all manner of sea creatures.

　　3. the movie is about feeling one ’s way to knowing. Ⅱ. ( 略)