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There are also things, quite uncanny, which bring me information that will help me in the writing of the book.
除此以外，還有一些離奇的事件在寫作時為我?guī)砹瞬煌膶懽髻Y料。
In this case, I was writing a story that included some kind of detail, period of history, a certain location.
當時我正在寫一個古代的故事，需要那個年代的歷史和地理資料來補足故事中的細節(jié)。
And I needed to find something historically that would match that.
我需要找到某些歷史事件來與其匹配。
And I took down this book, and I -- first page that I flipped it to was exactly the setting, and the time period,
我從書架上拿下這本書，我翻開的第一頁便是我故事里的時代和地點，
and the kind of character I needed was the Taiping rebellion,
以及我在描寫太平天國時所需要的人物，
happening in the area near Guilin, outside of that, and a character who thought he was the son of God.
在一個接近桂林的地方，和一個認為他是神的兒子的人物。
You wonder, are these things random chance?
你不禁想，這一切都是偶然的嗎？
Well, what is random? What is chance? What is luck?
但偶然是什么？機會是什么？運氣又是什么？
What are things that you get from the universe that you can't really explain?
那些從天而降的靈感又是什么？
And that goes into the story, too. These are the things I constantly think about from day to day.
這也成為故事的一部分。這些就是我日復一日想著的事。
Especially when good things happen, and, in particular, when bad things happen.
在好事發(fā)生的時候，尤其，在壞事發(fā)生的時候。
But I do think there's a kind of serendipity, and I do want to know what those elements are,
但我是相信這種突發(fā)靈感的，我也想知道它們形成的元素是什么，
so I can thank them, and also try to find them in my life.
我才能感謝并找到它們。
Because, again, I think that when I am aware of them, more of them happen.
因為，我想，我越能察覺它們，它們就發(fā)生的越頻繁。
Another chance encounter is when I went to a place
還有一次是我去了一個地方，
I just was with some friends, and we drove randomly to a different place,
我只是和朋友漫無目的地開著車，
and we ended up in this non-tourist location, a beautiful village, pristine.
卻到了這個旅游景點以外的一個淳樸的、古樸的村莊，
And we walked three valleys beyond, and the third valley, there was something quite mysterious and ominous, a discomfort I felt.
我們越過了三個山谷，在第三個山谷，我有些神秘的、不舒服的預感。
And then I knew that had to be setting of my book.
我知道這將成為我故事的場景。
And in writing one of the scenes, it happened in that third valley.
故事里的其中一幕便發(fā)生在第三個山谷，
For some reason I wrote about cairns -- stacks of rocks -- that a man was building.
其中一幕我寫到，一個男人，正擺著石堆。
And I didn't know exactly why I had it, but it was so vivid.
我不知道為什么我這樣寫，但那景象很鮮明。
I got stuck, and a friend, when she asked if I would go for a walk with her dogs, that I said, sure.
我陷入了困境，一個朋友問我要不要和她去遛狗，我說好。
And about 45 minutes later, walking along the beach, I came across this.
四十五分鐘后，我在海灘上遇見了這件事。
And it was a man, a Chinese man, and he was stacking these things, not with glue, not with anything.
一個男人，一個中國男人，他正堆著這些東西，沒有膠水，沒有任何工具。
And I asked him, "How is it possible to do this?"
我問他：“這怎么可能？”
And he said, "Well, I guess with everything in life, there's a place of balance."
他說：“世間每件事都有一個平衡點。”
And this was exactly the meaning of my story at that point.
那便是我故事里所要講的重點。
I had so many examples -- I have so many instances like this, when I'm writing a story, and I cannot explain it.
在我的寫作過程中，這樣的事時常發(fā)生，我無法解釋是否因為我有一種特殊的過濾法。
Is it because I had the filter that I have such a strong coincidence in writing about these things?
因為這些強烈的巧合正是我想寫的事？
Or is it a kind of serendipity that we cannot explain, like the cosmological constant?
或是這真是一些我們所不能解釋的突發(fā)事件從天而來？
