戴维·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...

　　设想有人给你一支笔——一支密封的、单色的笔。你看不到里面有多少墨水。或许刚刚试着写了几个字，就没有墨了，也或许足够你创作一部或几部不朽的杰作，使注定之事有了改变。这些是你在开始之前完全不知道的。

　　根据游戏规则，你真的不可能知道。你必须找一个机会！实际上，没有游戏规则会告诉你该做什么。你可以不去拿这支笔，不去用它，你完全可以把它放在架子上，或是放在抽屉里，任由墨水蒸发。但是如果你决定使用它，你要做些什么呢？你要怎样做这个游戏呢？

　　在写字之前，你会安排来安排去吗？你的计划是不是太庞大，不能下笔了呢？

　　或者是你握着笔，投入其中，任由手中的笔带着你的词语如急流般涌出？

　　你是想谨慎小心地写，好像下一刻笔就会没墨了，还是你想假装或是相信（或是假装去相信）笔会一直写下去，从而继续发挥呢？

　　你要写些什么呢？爱情？憎恨？娱乐？苦恼？生命？死亡？一无所有？世间万物？

　　你想要写自己的快乐，还是其他人的快乐？或是通过对他人的描写来写自己呢？

　　你的一笔一画是颤抖着，还是辉煌的？是夸张的还是简单的？

　　你真的要写吗？你一旦拥有了这支笔，却并没有规则规定你必须去写。你是粗粗勾勒，潦草乱写，胡乱涂鸦还是细细绘制？

　　你是写在线里，还是写在线上，还是无视线上的一切？这些都存在吗？有太多值得思考的地方，不是吗？

　　现在，猜想有人给你一次生命……

　　Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

　　—Rousseau

　　忍耐是痛苦的，但它的果实是甜蜜的。

　　——卢梭

　　sealed[si:ld]adj.封口的；密封的

　　The computer disk is sent in a sealed container.

　　计算机软盘装在密封的盒里寄出。

　　tentative[?tent?tiv]adj.试验性质的；暂时的；犹豫不决的

　　I think we can draw up a tentative plan now.

　　我认为我们现在可以先草拟一个临时方案。

　　plunge[pl?nd?]v.投入；跳进；使……陷入

　　She plunged her hands into her coat pockets.

　　她把两手插在上衣口袋里。

　　cautiously[?k?:??sli]adv.慎重地

　　She drives very cautiously.

　　她很小心地开车。

　　或许刚刚试着写了几个字，就没有墨了，也或许足够你创作一部或几部不朽的杰作，使注定之事有了改变。

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　　你可以不去拿这支笔，不去用它，你完全可以把它放在架子上，或是放在抽屉里，任由墨水蒸发。

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　　或者是你握着笔，投入其中，任由手中的笔带着你的词语如急流般涌出？

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　　You have to take a chance!

　　take a chance：冒险；投机

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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；处理

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