The wholeness of life

健全的人生

Once a circle missed a wedge.

从前，一只圆圈缺了一块楔子。

The circle wanted to be whole,

它想保持完整，

so it went around looking for its missing piece.

便四处寻找那块楔子。

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

由于不完整，所以它只能慢慢地滚动。

it admired the flowers along the way.

一路上，它对花儿露出羡慕之色。

It chatted with worms.

它与蠕虫谈天侃地。

It enjoyed the sunshine.

它还欣赏到了阳光之美。

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

圆圈找到了许多不同的楔子，但没有一件与它相配。

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

所以，它将它们统统弃置路旁，继续寻觅。

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

终于有一天，它找到了一个完美的配件。

It was so happy.

圆圈是那样地高兴，

Now it could be whole, with nothing missing.

现在它可以说是完美无缺了。

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

它装好配件，并开始滚动起来。

Now that it was a perfect circle,

现在它已成了一个完美的圆圈，

it could roll very fast,

所以滚动得非常快，

too fast to notice flowers or talk to the worms.

以至于难以观赏花儿，也无暇与蠕虫倾诉心声。

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

当圆圈意识到因快奔急骋使它失去了原有的世界时，

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

它不禁停了下来，将找到的配件弃置路旁，又开始慢慢地滚动。

The lesson of the story, I suggested,

我觉得这个故事告诉我们，

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

从某种奇妙的意义上讲，当我们失去了一些东西时反而更加完整。

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

一个拥有一切的人其实在某些方面是个穷人。