Suppose someone gave you a pen - a sealed, solid-colored pen.

假如有人送你一支筆，一支不可拆卸的單色鋼筆.

You couldn’t see how much ink it had. 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.

里面究竟有多少墨水看不出。或許在你試探性地寫(xiě)上幾個(gè)字后它就會(huì)枯干，或許足夠用來(lái)創(chuàng)作一部影響深遠(yuǎn)的不朽巨著(或是幾部)。而這些，在動(dòng)筆前，都是無(wú)法得知的。

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

在這個(gè)游戲規(guī)則下，你真的永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)預(yù)知結(jié)果。你只能去碰運(yùn)氣!事實(shí)上，這個(gè)游戲里沒(méi)有規(guī)則指定你必須要做什幺。相反，你甚至可以根本不去動(dòng)用這支筆，把它扔在書(shū)架上或是抽屜里讓它的墨水干枯。

But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it? How would you play the game?Would you plan and plan before you ever wrote a word? Would your plans be so extensive that you never even got to the writing?

但是，如果你決定要用它的話(huà)，你會(huì)用它來(lái)做什幺呢?你將怎樣來(lái)進(jìn)行這個(gè)游戲呢?你會(huì)不寫(xiě)一個(gè)字，老是計(jì)劃來(lái)計(jì)劃去嗎?你會(huì)不會(huì)由于計(jì)劃過(guò)于宏大而來(lái)不及動(dòng)筆呢?

Or would you take the pen in hand, plunge right in and just do it, struggling to keep up with the twists and turns of the torrents of words that take you where they take you?

或者你只是手里拿著筆，一頭扎進(jìn)去寫(xiě)，不停地寫(xiě)，艱難地隨著文字洶涌的浪濤而隨波逐流?

Would you write cautiously and carefully, as if the pen might run dry the next moment, or would you pretend or believe (or pretend to believe) that the pen will write forever and proceed accordingly?

你會(huì)小心謹(jǐn)慎的寫(xiě)字，好象這支筆在下一個(gè)時(shí)刻就可能會(huì)干枯;還是裝做或相信這支筆能夠永遠(yuǎn)寫(xiě)下去而信手寫(xiě)來(lái)呢?

And of what would you write: Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery? Life? Death? Nothing? Everything?

你將會(huì)寫(xiě)些什么呢?: 愛(ài)情?恨?悲傷?生命?死亡?無(wú)從下筆?所有一切

Would you write to please just yourself?Or others? Or yourself by writing for others?

你寫(xiě)時(shí)是為了取悅自己?他人?還是通過(guò)寫(xiě)他人來(lái)取悅自己?

Would your strokes be tremblingly timid or brilliantly bold? Fancy with a flourish or plain?

你落筆時(shí)會(huì)是顫抖膽怯的，還是鮮明果敢的?花里胡哨還是樸實(shí)無(wú)華?

Would you even write? Once you have the pen, no rule says you have to write.

你會(huì)寫(xiě)作嗎?即使你擁有筆，沒(méi)有規(guī)定說(shuō)你必須寫(xiě)作。

Would you sketch? Scribble? Doodle or draw?

你會(huì)素描?信筆涂鴉?畫(huà)畫(huà)?

Would you stay in or on the lines, or see no lines at all, even if they were there? Or are they?

你會(huì)呆在線(xiàn)里還是線(xiàn)上,或者根本看不到線(xiàn), 即使他們就在那里? 或者他們?cè)趩?

There’s a lot to think about here, isn’t there? Now, suppose someone gave you a life…

還有許多值得思考的事情，不是嗎?現(xiàn)在，假如有人給予你一支生命的筆...