戴維·A.伯曼/David A. Berman
Suppose someone gave you a pen-a sealed, solid-colored pen. 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.
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. 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?
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?
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?
And of what would you write: Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery? Life? Death? Nothing? Everything?
Would you write to please just yourself? Or others? Or yourself by writing for others?
Would your strokes be tremblingly timid or brilliantly bold? Fancy with a flourish or plain?
Would you even write? Once you have the pen, no rule says you have to write. Would you sketch? Scribble? Doodle or draw?
Would you stay in or on the lines, or see no lines at all, even if they were there? Or are they? There's a lot to think about here, isn't there?
Now, suppose someone gave you a life...
設想有人給你一支筆——一支密封的、單色的筆。你看不到裏麵有多少墨水。或許剛剛試著寫了幾個字，就沒有墨了，也或許足夠你創作一部或幾部不朽的傑作，使注定之事有了改變。這些是你在開始之前完全不知道的。
根據遊戲規則，你真的不可能知道。你必須找一個機會！實際上，沒有遊戲規則會告訴你該做什麽。你可以不去拿這支筆，不去用它，你完全可以把它放在架子上，或是放在抽屜裏，任由墨水蒸發。但是如果你決定使用它，你要做些什麽呢？你要怎樣做這個遊戲呢？
在寫字之前，你會安排來安排去嗎？你的計劃是不是太龐大，不能下筆了呢？
或者是你握著筆，投入其中，任由手中的筆帶著你的詞語如急流般湧出？
你是想謹慎小心地寫，好像下一刻筆就會沒墨了，還是你想假裝或是相信（或是假裝去相信）筆會一直寫下去，從而繼續發揮呢？
你要寫些什麽呢？愛情？憎恨？娛樂？苦惱？生命？死亡？一無所有？世間萬物？
你想要寫自己的快樂，還是其他人的快樂？或是通過對他人的描寫來寫自己呢？
你的一筆一畫是顫抖著，還是輝煌的？是誇張的還是簡單的？
你真的要寫嗎？你一旦擁有了這支筆，卻並沒有規則規定你必須去寫。你是粗粗勾勒，潦草亂寫，胡亂塗鴉還是細細繪製？
你是寫在線裏，還是寫在線上，還是無視線上的一切？這些都存在嗎？有太多值得思考的地方，不是嗎？
現在，猜想有人給你一次生命……
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
—Rousseau
忍耐是痛苦的，但它的果實是甜蜜的。
——盧梭
sealed[si:ld]adj.封口的；密封的
The computer disk is sent in a sealed container.
計算機軟盤裝在密封的盒裏寄出。
tentative[?tent?tiv]adj.試驗性質的；暫時的；猶豫不決的
I think we can draw up a tentative plan now.
我認為我們現在可以先草擬一個臨時方案。
plunge[pl?nd?]v.投入；跳進；使……陷入
She plunged her hands into her coat pockets.
她把兩手插在上衣口袋裏。
cautiously[?k?:??sli]adv.慎重地
She drives very cautiously.
她很小心地開車。
或許剛剛試著寫了幾個字，就沒有墨了，也或許足夠你創作一部或幾部不朽的傑作，使注定之事有了改變。
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你可以不去拿這支筆，不去用它，你完全可以把它放在架子上，或是放在抽屜裏，任由墨水蒸發。
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或者是你握著筆，投入其中，任由手中的筆帶著你的詞語如急流般湧出？
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You have to take a chance!
take a chance：冒險；投機
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But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it?
do with：利用；忍受；需要；處理
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