We Are More Whole When We Are Missing Something當我們失去了一些東西時，我們更加完整

繪◎汀 嶼

掃我，朗讀給你聽

Once a circle missed a wedge①wedge 英 [wed?] 美 [w?d?] vt. 楔入；擠進；楔住vi. 楔入；擠進n. 楔子；楔形物；導致分裂的東西.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 fi t. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fi t perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated②incorporate 英 [?n'k??p?re?t]美 [?n'k?p?re?t]vt. 包含，吸收；體現；把……合并 vi. 合并；混合；組成公司adj. 合并的；一體化的；組成公司的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 the 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.

The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange sense③in some sense 在某種意義上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 yearn④yearn 英 [j??n] 美 [j?n]vi. 渴望，向往；思念，想念；懷念；同情，憐憫, to hope,to nourish⑤nourish 英 ['n?r??] 美 ['n?r??] vt. 滋養；懷有；使健壯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.

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 tragedy⑥tragedy 英 ['tr?d??d?] 美 ['tr?d??di] n. 悲劇；災難；慘案and survive⑦survive 英 [s?'va?v] 美 [s?'va?v]vt. 幸存；生還；幸免于；比……活得長vi. 幸存；活下來.

有一只圓圈缺了一塊楔子。圓圈想保持完整，便四處尋找失去的那塊楔子。由于它不完整，所以只能緩慢地滾動。一路上，它對花兒露出羨慕之色。它與蠕蟲談天侃地。它還欣賞到了陽光之美。圓圈找到了許許多多不同的配件，但是沒有一件能完美地與它相配。所以，它將它們統統棄置路旁，繼續尋覓。終于有一天，它找到了一個完美的配件。圓圈是那么高興。現在它可以說是完美無缺了。它裝好配件，然后滾動起來。現在它已成了一個完整的圓圈，所以滾動得非常快，以至于無暇觀賞花兒，也無暇與蠕蟲傾訴心聲。圓圈快奔急騁，發現眼中的世界變得如此不同，于是，它不禁停了下來，將找到的那個配件留在路旁，又開始了慢慢地滾動。

從某種奇妙意義上講，當我們失去了一些東西時反而感到更加完整。一個擁有一切的人其實在某些方面是個窮人。他永遠也體會不到什么是渴望、期待以及對美好夢想的感悟。他也永遠不會有這樣一種體驗：一個愛他的人送給他某種他夢寐以求的或者從未擁有過的東西意味什么。

人生的完整性在于一個人知道如何面對他的缺陷，如何勇敢地摒棄那些不現實的幻想而又不以此為缺憾。人生的完整性還在于懂得：他（她）發現自己能勇敢面對人生悲劇而繼續生存。