One sunny morning, a bright yellow school bus rolled out of an elementary school parking lot. The fall leaves were turning brilliant colors against the blue sky, and children shouted noisily from the bus. They were excited because they were going on a field trip!

The children's laughter and singing sounded typically happy, but the words to their song were a little odd: "The neck bone's connected to the head bone. The head bone's connected to the horn bone. The horn bone's right above the wing bone ..."

Perhaps the song wasn't odd for these kids. While they talked and acted like human kids, they were actually monster kids — and some of them did have head bones connected to their horn bones ... as well as wing bones, extra legs, multiple eyes, tentacles¹, and other monster characteristics. They attended Frighton Elementary School. And today, they were visiting the famous scream factory, Monsters, Incorporated, in Monstropolis!

As the bus came to a stop in the parking lot of Monsters, Inc., Mrs. Graves, a large, kindly² pink teacher with horns and glasses, stood up and faced the excited youngsters. "Okay," she said, "please remember our field trip rules: no pushing, no biting, and no fire-breathing."

The bus door flew open and little blue-horned, purple-polka-dotted, and yellow-furred monsters poured out onto the curb³, laughing and shouting. One immediately breathed fire on his friend's neck.

Mrs. Graves leaned over and asked sternly, "What did I just say?" Then she tried to count the students who had come off the bus. "Eighteen, nineteen ...?" She glanced around at the group. "Okay, we're missing one. Who are we missing?"

She looked over at the bus, noting the closed door. A little green hand was up in the air, waving through the door window.

"Oooh, Michael!" she said, concerned.

The bus door opened, and there stood six-year-old Mike Wazowski, a round, bright green, one-eyed monster about the size of a melon. As usual, Mike was smiling.

"Thanks, Joe!" Mike called to the bus driver. "Good luck finishing your crossword⁴ puzzle!"

"Sorry, Michael," the driver replied. "I didn't see you." It wasn't the first time the small green monster had accidentally been locked inside a bus. But Mike didn't mind. Being overlooked was something that happened to him all the time. He'd learned to make the best of it.

"That's okay," Mike answered. "When I was on the bus I found a nickel!" He jumped down from the steps and walked toward Mrs. Graves, holding up the coin and murmuring, "I wish I had pockets ..."

Once Mike was on the ground, Mrs. Graves couldn't help noticing just how small he was for his age. The other kids were taller and thicker, and they had lots of tentacles, eyes, and fur. Mike only had his one big eye.

Mike joined the group and Mrs. Graves did her best to corral the excited students. "Okay," she said, "everybody partner up! Get your field trip buddy⁵!"

As the kids scrambled⁶, Mike bounced between them, trying to find a partner. "Jeremy? You and me?" Mike anxiously asked another young monster. But Jeremy turned away. "Okay, no biggie," Mike said. He turned to another classmate. "Haley?" he asked hopefully. The other monster frowned. "No?" Mike said, watching as she headed toward another child. "Pairing up with Claire," he said, nodding. "Great choice. She's a good egg."

Then he spotted⁷ Russell, the tallest kid in the class. "Russell!" he shouted happily. Seeing no recognition in Russell's eyes, Mike tried to jog the kid's memory. "Mike Wazowski? We carpool. We're cousins."

But Russell looked right over Mike's head, high-fived another kid, and walked off. "Okay, good catching⁸ up," Mike called after him. He looked around and saw that everyone had found a field trip buddy but him. For a second, Mike's brave smile began to falter⁹.

Mrs. Graves walked up to him. "Well, Michael," she said, taking his hand, "it looks like it's you and me again."

Mike's smile returned, and he tugged¹⁰ on her hand. "Come on, Karen!" he said, eager to catch up with his classmates. "We're falling behind!"

"Please don't call me Karen," the teacher said as Mike pulled her along. Mike looked up and his eye grew wide as he and Mrs. Graves finally passed through the enormous factory doors and under the words MONSTERS, INC.

 

一个阳光明媚的早晨，一辆明黄色的校车从小学的停车场驶出。在蓝天的映衬下，秋叶的颜色显得愈发绚丽明亮。校车里不时传出孩子们兴奋的叫喊声——他们要去户外考察啦！

孩子们开心地笑着，欢快地唱着，但他们的歌词却有一点儿古怪：“颈骨连着头骨，头骨连着角骨，角骨就在翼骨上哟……”

或许对这些孩子们来说，这首歌并不奇怪。因为他们的举止虽然和人类孩子没有什么差别，但实际上，他们是一群小怪兽。他们之中确实有的头上长着犄角，有的长着翅膀，有的多长了几条腿或几只眼睛，还有的长着触须……模样简直是千奇百怪。这些小怪兽就读于“惊吓小学”，而今天，他们将要参观最著名的尖叫工厂——位于怪兽之都的怪兽电力公司！

校车在怪兽电力公司的停车场稳稳停住，格拉芙夫人站起身，看着兴奋的孩子们说：“听着，别忘了我们实地考察的纪律：不许推搡，不许咬人，更不许喷火。”她是孩子们的老师，粉红色的身子，身材高大，头上长着角，戴着副眼镜，看起来和蔼 可亲。

校车门开了，一群小怪兽一股脑儿冲到了马路边，一边叫一边笑。他们有的长着蓝色的角，有的长着黄色的毛，还有的身上长着紫色的斑点。一只小怪兽刚下车就朝着小伙伴的脖子喷了一口火。

格拉芙老师弯下腰，严厉地说：“我刚刚说什么来着？”说完她开始清点人数：“十八，十九……？”她环顾了一下整个队伍说，“好吧，少了一个。我们把谁落下啦？”

她转头看了一眼校车，在关闭的车门处看见一只绿色的小手，那只手正举在空中，隔着窗子朝她挥舞。

“哦——麦克！”她关切地说道。

校车门打开了，六岁的麦克·华斯基站在车门口。他是一只鲜绿色的独眼小怪兽，圆乎乎的身子差不多只有一个瓜那么大。他的脸上像往常一样挂着笑容。

麦克转身向司机道谢：“乔，谢啦！祝你顺利完成填字游戏哦！”

司机回应道：“不好意思，麦克，我刚才没看见你。”其实麦克已经不是第一次被不小心锁在车里了，但他一点儿也不介意。他总是被忽视，而他已经习惯了。

“没关系啦，”麦克说，“我刚刚在车上还捡到了五美分呢！”他从台阶上跳下来，朝格拉芙老师走过去，手里拿着那枚硬币，嘴里嘟嘟囔囔：“我要是有个口袋就好了……”

麦克刚一落地，格拉芙老师就注意到，他的确太矮小了，实在不像他这个年龄该有的大小。其他的小怪兽都是又高又壮，长着许多触须、眼睛和毛发，而麦克只长了一只大眼睛。

麦克入列了，格拉芙老师费了好大劲才把兴奋的学生们聚集到一起，她说：“好了，孩子们，大家自由组合，找你们的考察伙伴吧！”

小怪兽们顿时乱作一团，麦克在人群中兴奋地走来走去，想找一位搭档。“杰里米？咱们一起吧？”他期待而又紧张地看着那个小怪兽，但是杰里米没有理他，转身走了。“好吧，没关系，”麦克又满怀希望地转向另一个同学，“海莉？我们一起吧？”但海莉皱了皱眉。“不行吗？”麦克说着，海莉已经走向了另一个小怪兽。“她和克莱尔一组，”麦克点着头自言自语道，“有眼光，她是个好人。”

接着，麦克发现了班里最高的小怪兽罗素。“罗素！”他高兴地叫道。但是从罗素的眼神里，麦克看出罗素没认出自己，于是他试着提醒罗素道：“我是麦克·华斯基，你不记得了吗？我们一组吧？我们是表兄弟呢。”

但罗素的目光直接越过了麦克的头顶，只见他和另一只小怪兽击了个掌，一起走了。“好吧，他来得正好。”麦克冲着罗素的背影补充道。环顾四周，麦克发现除了自己，所有小怪兽都找到了他们的搭档。一瞬间，麦克脸上乐观的笑容慢慢褪去。

这时，格拉芙老师走过来，牵起麦克的手说：“麦克，看来又得咱俩搭档了。”

麦克的脸上重新绽放出笑容，他拉起格拉芙老师的手，急于赶上前面的同学们：“快点儿，卡伦，我们要落后了！”

格拉芙老师被麦克拉着，一边向前走，一边说道：“请别叫我卡伦好吧。”麦克和格拉芙老师终于跨过巨大的工厂大门，站在了“怪兽电力公司”这几个字下面。麦克抬起头看着这一切，眼睛瞪得老大。

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