Once a cirle missed a wedge. Tne 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 the flowers or to talk to the worms. When it realized how differrnt the world seemed when it rolled so quickly,it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

以上是《Life Is to Be Whole》一篇英文短篇开头叙述的寓言故事。说的是：从前，有一只圆圈缺少了一块楔子。圆圈想要保持完整，于是四处寻找失去的那块楔子。可是由于它不是那么完整的圆，所以它只能慢慢地滚动。一路上，它赞美花儿，和蠕虫们聊天，享受新鲜的阳光。圆圈找到了许多楔子，但没有适合它的。所以它把它们丢在路边继续寻找。终于有一天圆圈找到了个与它完全吻合的楔子，它太高兴了，现在圆圈总算完美无缺。完美无缺的圆圈继续滚动，速度非常之快，以至于无暇观赏路边的花儿，无暇和小蠕虫们说话。当圆圈意识到在它飞速滚动的时候世界如此不同，（似乎失去了什么）。于是它停下了，将那个后来补上的配件留在路旁，重新开始慢慢地滚动。

这个署名佚名的英文短篇的标题Life Is to Be Whole，《英语沙龙》的许歆翻译为《人生在于完整》，是一种译法，但我觉得似乎翻译成《人生总是完整的》更恰当些。寓言里的圆圈，因自己生来有缺憾，于是开始了寻找完整的路程。在寻找的过程中，它慢慢欣赏着自然界盛开的花儿，和小昆虫们谈心说话，享受美好的阳光。然而，当它找到那个适合它的配件，当它变得完美无缺，当它以完整的姿态继续前进的时候，它发现完美无缺竟然使它失去了许多过去曾经拥有的，它的外形改变了，与它相关的世界也发生了改变。这改变令它的形体完美，而完美无缺的代价是它的世界里失去了许多简单的温暖的缓慢流淌的幸福。于是，小圆圈又舍弃了那个已得到的楔子，以本来并不完美的姿态继续缓慢滚动。

这个英文寓言寓意深刻。其实我们每个人的人生都是文中的那个小圆圈，我们生下来都不是完美无缺的。人生或生命的完美或完整，在于一连串不完整不完美的过程或瞬间的串联。从这个意义上讲，没有完整的个体，但人人都有完整的或者完美的人生。