Once a circle missed a wedge. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.
曾经有个圆圈缺了一小块,它想要保持完整,于是它四处寻找丢失的那块。因为它不完整,所以只能很慢地滚动。它很羡慕沿途的花;它和蚯蚓聊天,并享受阳光。它发现了很多不同的块,但没有一个适合它。于是它将那些留在路边,继续前行。有一天,圆终于找到了很适合它的那块。它幸福极了。现在它又完整了,什么都不缺。它将丢失的那块补上,并开始滚动。现在它是一个完美的圆,所以可以飞快地滚动,它滚动得太快了以至于它无法注意到花或是和蚯蚓聊天。当它意识到在飞速滚动时世界是多么不同时,它停了下来,将找到的那块留在路边,再次开始慢慢地滚动。
The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted or never had.
这个故事,在我看来,告诉我们在某种程度上,当我们缺少某种事物时,我们更加完整。拥有一切的人在某些方面却是一个穷人,他从不会知道渴望和希望的感受,不会了解怀有美好梦想时心里会是什么感觉。他从来体会不到让爱他的人赠予他从未拥有,但却一直想要的东西时的感受。
There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive,she can lose someone and still feel like a complete person.
有种完整在于:人甘心忍受他的不足之处,人能勇敢地放弃不切实际的梦想,但是并不因此而感到失败。有种完整在于:她或他学到了,她或他能足够坚强从而经历坎坷后能活下了,她可能失去了某人但是仍感到像一个完整的人。