Suppose someone gave you a pen —a sealed, solid-colored pen.You couldn’t seehow much ink it had.

假設有人給了你一枝筆，一枝密封的、純色的水筆，里面有多少墨水你看不到。

It might run dry after the first few tentative words or last just long enough to create a masterpiece (or several) that would last forever and make a difference in the scheme of things.You don’t know before you begin.

很可能剛剛試寫幾字便用干耗盡；也可能足以完成一部或幾部杰作，永存于世，使世事為之大變。

Under the rules of the game, you really never know.You have to take a chance!

而這一切你在動筆之前卻是一無所知。根據游戲的規則，你確實永遠也不會知道，只能冒一下險。

Actually, no rule of the game states you must do anything. Instead of picking up and using the pen, you could leave it on a shelf or in a drawer where it will dry up, unused.

而事實上，也沒有規則說你就一定要做些什么。你大可以把筆擱在架子上、放在抽屜里，棄置不用，任墨水蒸發干凈。

But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it? How would you play the game?

然而，如果你真的決定使用，你會做什么？怎么來做這個游戲？

Would you plan and plan before you ever wrote a word?

你會左計劃、右計劃，然后才慢慢下筆嗎？

Would your plans be so extensive that you never even got to the writing?

計劃會不會太泛太多，根本就達不到寫作這一步？