Suppose someone gave you a pen-
a sealed, solid-colored pen.
假如有人送你一支笔，
一支不可拆卸的单色钢笔。

You couldn't see
how much ink it had.
看不出里面究竟有多少墨水。

It might run dry
after the first few tentative words
或许在你试探性地
写上几个字后它就会没有墨水

or last just long enough
to create a masterpiece(or several)
that would last forever
and make a difference
in the scheme of things.
或许足够用来创作一部
影响深远的不朽巨著(或是几部)。

You don't know before you begin.
而这些，在动笔前
都是无法得知的

Under the rules of the game,
you really never know.
You have to take a chance!
在这个游戏规则下
你真的永远不会预知结果
你只能去碰运气

Actually, no rule of the game
states you must do anything.
事实上，
这个游戏里没有规则指定你必须要做什么。

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.
相反，你甚至可以根本不去动用这支笔，
把它扔在书架上或是抽屉里让它的墨水干枯。

But if you do decide to use it,
what would you do with it?
但是，如果你决定要用它的话，
那么你会用它来做什么呢？

How would you play the game?
你将怎么来进行这个游戏呢？

Would you plan and plan
before you ever wrote a word?
你会不写一个字，
老是计划来计划去吗？

Would your plans be so extensive
that you never even got to the writing?
你会不会由于计划过于宏大
而来不及动笔呢？

Or would you take the pen in hand,
plunge right in and just do it,
或者你只是手里拿着笔，
一头扎进去写，不停地写，

struggling to keep up with the twists and turns
of the torrents of words
that take you where they take you?
艰难地随着文字汹涌的浪涛而随波逐流？

Would you write cautiously and carefully,
as if the pen might run dry the next moment,
你会小心谨慎的写字
好像这支笔在下一个时刻就可能会干枯

or would you pretend or believe
(or pretend to believe)
that the pen will write forever
and proceed accordingly?
还是装作或相信这支笔
能够永远写下去而信手写来呢？

And of what would you write:
Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery?
Life? Death? Nothing? Everything?
你又会用笔写下些什么呢：
爱？恨？喜？悲？
生？死？虚无？万物？

Would you write to please just yourself?
Or others?
Or yourself by writing for others?
你写作只是为了愉己？
还是为了悦人？
亦或是借替人书写而愉己？

Would your strokes be tremblingly timid
or brilliantly bold?
Fancy with a flourish or plain?
你的落笔会是颤抖胆怯的，
还是鲜明果敢的？
你的想象会是丰富的还是贫乏的？

Would you even write?
Once you have the pen,
no rule says you have to write.
甚或你根本没有落笔？
这是因为，你拿到笔以后，
没有哪条规则说你必须写作。

Would you sketch?
Scribble? Doodle or draw?
也许你要画素描，乱写一气？
信笔涂鸦？画画？

Would you stay in or on the lines,
or see no lines at all,
even if they were there?
你会保持写在线内还是线上，
还是根本看不到线，即使有线在那里？

Or are they?
嗯，真的有线吗？

There's a lot to think about here,
isn't there?
这里面有许多东西值得考虑，不是吗？

Now,
suppose someone gave you a life...
现在
假如有人给予你一支生命的笔……

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