Tue, Jan 06, 2026 page11

• BILINGUAL STORY 雙語故事

  Getting your life in shape for the new year 新年新氣象 打造圓滿新人生

  • By Nigel P. Daly / Translator: Cynthia Chen 陳昕妤
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  ★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。

  “Any New Year’s resolutions?” he asked. Lena put her coffee down. “Yeah,” she said. “To get in shape.... round is a shape, right?” Mark chuckled. “I support this. Fully achievable. Low risk.” “Thanks,” she smiled and lovingly rubbed her round belly. “I like a resolution I can’t fail.”

  “Funny thing is, I was thinking about getting round too.” Lena nodded her head in approval, “You could put some meat on those skinny bones of yours.” Mark shook his head, “Not that kind of round. Wheel-of-Life round.” She raised an eyebrow. “The what?”

  

   Photo: AI I 照片：AI

  He pulled a pen from his pocket and began to sketch a wheel on the back of a napkin. “It’s this life coaching thing I read about. You draw a circle and slice it up into three big pieces ... health, relationships and work.

  Then divide each big piece into 3 smaller ones, like body, mind, and soul for health. This pie contains everything that matters in a good life.” He added family, friends and romance for relationships.” “What about for Work?” Lena asked. “Money, growth and mission,” he replied. “That makes sense,” she said. “Then what?”

  Mark explained: “Then you score each part from the center out — the center is 0 and at the edge of the circle would be a 10. If the shape comes out smooth and round, your life is rolling fine. If it comes out like… well…” He held up is own very un-round wheel. “... like this disaster, then you know why life feels bumpy.”

  “Wow,” Lena said, “you have zero romantic relationships, zero soul health, and zero mission at work — That’s not a wheel.” “Exactly. That’s my last year. A smashed bun in motion.” She laughed.

  “So, your resolution is… what? Fix the bun?” “No,” he said. “Just make it round enough that the year doesn’t wobble so much,” he said. “You should only pick one or two slices and raise them a little. Not everything. Just enough to smooth the ride.”

  Lena looked at Mark’s crooked wheel. “Maybe I’ll borrow that.” He handed the sketch to Lena and echoed her resolution, “Round is a good shape. A round bun rolls better than a smashed one.” And it tastes better too,” Lena said, once more rubbing her round belly with a smile.

  「新年新希望有想好了嗎？」他問。 麗娜放下了她的咖啡。「有哇」她說道。「我想要改變我的身形…變圓也算吧？」馬克輕聲笑了一下。「我支持！這個目標很容易達成，而且沒什麼風險。」「謝啦！」她笑著摸了一下自己圓圓的肚子。「我也喜歡這種容易達成的目標。」

  「有趣的是，我其實也想要變得更圓一些。」麗娜點點頭。「你是該多長一些肉，你這個皮包骨。」馬克搖了搖頭。「不是那種圓，是『生命之輪』的圓。」 她挑起一邊的眉毛「蛤？什麼東西？」

  他從口袋中掏出了一枝筆，並在餐巾紙上畫了一個圓。「這是我在人生教練術之類的東西那裡讀到的。先把這個圓輪分成三大塊，分別代表健康、人際關係、工作。」

  「再將每一大塊區分成三小塊。健康區這塊，寫上身體、心理、心靈。而人際關係區，則是家人、朋友、感情。」「那工作這塊呢？」麗娜問道。 「金錢、成長、使命」他回覆。 「蠻合理的」她說，「然後呢？」

  「接著，你從圓心往外，給每個部分打分數。中間是零分，邊緣是滿分十分。如果畫出來的形狀又平滑又圓，代表你的人生一切順利。如果畫出來像……」他舉起自己那個完全不圓的圓輪。「……像我這個慘狀一樣，你就知道為什麼生活會處處碰壁了。」

  「哇！」麗娜仔細看了看「你感情零分、心靈零分，工作使命感也是零分欸！這完全不是個圓輪了！」「對啊。這就是我今年的狀態，就像是一顆被壓爛但持續滾動中的小圓麵包。」她笑了出來。

  「所以你的新希望是什麼？把小圓麵包修補好嗎？」 「不是，」他說。「只要讓它圓到不至於整年都在晃就好。你挑一兩塊，把它們的分數稍微拉高一點，不用全部，只要讓生活平順一點就好。」

  麗娜看著馬克那歪七扭八的圓輪「搞不好我可以試試這個。」 他把圖遞給她，然後學著她的口氣說：「圓很好啊。小圓麵包比壓爛的好滾動多了。」「而且也比較好吃，」麗娜笑著摸著自己的圓肚子說。

  Epilogue 故事討論

  Years come and go, just like New Year’s resolutions — usually faster than our ambition lasts. As Oscar Wilde once said, “A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” (A pun on the English idiom “in one ear and out the other”). But the classic life coaching tool known as the Wheel of Life is worth considering this January. It was first developed by Paul J. Meyer in the 1960s and divides life into the 3 main slices that contain 3 smaller ones: Health (body, mind, soul), Work (money, growth, mission), and Relationships (family, friends, romance).

  For each slice, you need to score each one from the center out. Mark has no love life so there is no slice for romance; but he has good friends like Lena, so friends is a full slice. After you complete this wheel of life, you can see if your life and year can roll smoothly or whether you’ve sketched a smashed bun like Mark’s. The advice is simple: don’t chase 10 big goals; raise one or two small slices by a single point. Small lifts smooth the whole ride. Good luck, and here’s to a rounder, steadier 2026.

  歲月更迭，新年新希望也來來去去——通常它們消失的速度，比維持著雄心壯志的速度更快。就像王爾德說的：「新年新希望，就是從這一年進，從那一年出的東西。」（雙關語，意指「左耳進右耳出」）但這個經典的人生教練管理工具——「生命之輪」，確實值得我們在新年一月好好思考。它由保羅·J·邁耶在1960年代首創，將人生分為三大領域、九個面向：健康（身體、心理、心靈）、工作（金錢、成長、使命）以及人際關係（家人、朋友、感情）。

  針對每一塊，你都要從圓心向外評分。馬克沒有交往對象，所以感情是零分；但他有像麗娜一樣的好朋友，所以「朋友」是滿分。畫完這個生命之輪後，你就能看清自己的人生是能順暢前進，還是像馬克畫的那樣，是個壓扁的小圓麵包。建議很簡單：不要奢望達成十個大目標；只挑選一兩個弱項，把分數提高一分就好。微小的調整，就能讓整個人生旅途更平穩。祝你成功，也希望大家都能迎來一個更圓滿、更穩健的2026年！

  Vocabulary 單字片語

  1. round 圓

  2. achievable 容易達成

  3. sketch 塗鴉、素描、草擬

  4. mission 使命

  5. score 評分

  6. disaster 慘狀

  7. chuckle 輕笑、竊笑

  8. crooked 歪七扭八

  crook

  n. 彎曲物【美／俚】騙子、小偷

  v. 使彎曲、成鉤形【美／俚】欺騙、偷竊）

  Idioms & Phrases 相關成語

  1. New Year’s resolution 新年希望／決心

  2. wheel of life 生命之輪

  3. get in shape 改善身形、變得健康

  4. put some meat on 多長點肉

  Nigel P. Daly is a writer with a language learning newsletter called Chin-glish bilingual lab (https://ndaly.substack.com).

  Cynthia Chen is a translator and writer specializing in blogs, scripts and articles.
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