The wholeness of life

健全的人生

Once a circle missed a wedge.

從前，一只圓圈缺了一塊楔子。

The circle wanted to be whole,

它想保持完整，

so it went around looking for its missing piece.

便四處尋找那塊楔子。

But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly,

由于不完整，所以它只能慢慢地滾動。

it admired the flowers along the way.

一路上，它對花兒露出羨慕之色。

It chatted with worms.

它與蠕蟲談天侃地。

It enjoyed the sunshine.

它還欣賞到了陽光之美。

It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit.

圓圈找到了許多不同的楔子，但沒有一件與它相配。

So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching.

所以，它將它們統統棄置路旁，繼續尋覓。

Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly.

終于有一天，它找到了一個完美的配件。

It was so happy.

圓圈是那樣地高興，

Now it could be whole, with nothing missing.

現在它可以說是完美無缺了。

It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll.

它裝好配件，并開始滾動起來。

Now that it was a perfect circle,

現在它已成了一個完美的圓圈，

it could roll very fast,

所以滾動得非常快，

too fast to notice flowers or talk to the worms.

以至于難以觀賞花兒，也無暇與蠕蟲傾訴心聲。

When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly,

當圓圈意識到因快奔急騁使它失去了原有的世界時，

it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

它不禁停了下來，將找到的配件棄置路旁，又開始慢慢地滾動。

The lesson of the story, I suggested,

我覺得這個故事告訴我們，

was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something.

從某種奇妙的意義上講，當我們失去了一些東西時反而更加完整。

The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man.

一個擁有一切的人其實在某些方面是個窮人。