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第174章

The Wholeness of Life

Guidance for Reciting

A wise man knows he ought to give up something at the right time. The person who gives up the dream he can't realize is perfect;the person who values his experience of failure is perfect. Say no to perfection. The world doesn't have to be perfect.

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.

Notes

1.wedge [wedV] n.楔子,起因,楔形物

2.incorporate [in5kR:pEreit] v.合并

完整的人生

诵读导言

聪明人知道,他应该在合适的时间放弃一些东西。那些主动放弃不可能实现的梦想的人是完美的;那些珍视失败教训的人是完美的。拒绝追求完美(是明智的),因为世界本身就不必很完美。

从前有个圆圈,它丢失了一小段。它想变得完整,于是它到处寻找它所丢失的那部分。由于不完整,它只能滚得非常慢。在路上,它羡慕过花儿,它与虫子聊过天,它享受了阳光的照耀。它遇到过很多不同的小段,可是没有一个适合它。所以它把它们丢在路边,继续寻找。有一天,圆圈找到了可以与它完美结合的一小段,它非常高兴。它现在终于完整了,不缺任何东西了。它把丢失的那段装到自己身上,然后滚了起来。它现在是个完整的圆圈了,它可以滚的很快,快到忽视了花儿,快到没有时间和虫子们说话。当它意识到由于它滚得太快,世界变得如此的不同时,它便停了下来,把找到的那段卸下丢在路边,慢慢地滚走了。

口语点津

Fit 在本文中作不及物动词,口语中有“If the cap fits,wear it.”(如果帽子合适,就戴着吧),引申意为“要是言之中肯,就接受吧。”Fit还可作形容词用,谚语“He is not fit to command others that cannot command himself.”意为“正人先正己。”