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.
看不出里面究竟有多少墨水。

It might run dry
after the first few tentative words
或許在你試探性地
寫上幾個字后它就會沒有墨水

or last just long enough
to create a masterpiece(or several)
that would last forever
and make a difference
in the scheme of things.
或許足夠用來創作一部
影響深遠的不朽巨著(或是幾部)。

You don't know before you begin.
而這些，在動筆前
都是無法得知的

Under the rules of the game,
you really never know.
You have to take a chance!
在這個游戲規則下
你真的永遠不會預知結果
你只能去碰運氣

Actually, no rule of the game
states you must do anything.
事實上，
這個游戲里沒有規則指定你必須要做什么。

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動用這支筆，
把它扔在書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?
但是，如果你決定要用它的話，
那么你會用它來做什么呢？

How would you play the game?
你將怎么來進行這個游戲呢？

Would you plan and plan
before you ever wrote a word?
你會不寫一個字，
老是計劃來計劃去嗎？

Would your plans be so extensive
that you never even got to the writing?
你會不會由于計劃過于宏大
而來不及動筆呢？

Or would you take the pen in hand,
plunge right in and just do it,
或者你只是手里拿著筆，
一頭扎進去寫，不停地寫，

struggling to keep up with the twists and turns
of the torrents of words
that take you where they take you?
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,
你會小心謹慎的寫字
好像這支筆在下一個時刻就可能會干枯

or would you pretend or believe
(or pretend to believe)
that the pen will write forever
and proceed accordingly?
還是裝作或相信這支筆
能夠永遠寫下去而信手寫來呢？

And of what would you write:
Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery?
Life? Death? Nothing? Everything?
你又會用筆寫下些什么呢：
愛？恨？喜？悲？
生？死？虛無？萬物？

Would you write to please just yourself?
Or others?
Or yourself by writing for others?
你寫作只是為了愉己？
還是為了悅人？
亦或是借替人書寫而愉己？

Would your strokes be tremblingly timid
or brilliantly bold?
Fancy with a flourish or plain?
你的落筆會是顫抖膽怯的，
還是鮮明果敢的？
你的想象會是豐富的還是貧乏的？

Would you even write?
Once you have the pen,
no rule says you have to write.
甚或你根本沒有落筆？
這是因為，你拿到筆以后，
沒有哪條規則說你必須寫作。

Would you sketch?
Scribble? Doodle or draw?
也許你要畫素描，亂寫一氣？
信筆涂鴉？畫畫？

Would you stay in or on the lines,
or see no lines at all,
even if they were there?
你會保持寫在線內還是線上，
還是根本看不到線，即使有線在那里？

Or are they?
嗯，真的有線嗎？

There's a lot to think about here,
isn't there?
這里面有許多東西值得考慮，不是嗎？

Now,
suppose someone gave you a life...
現在
假如有人給予你一支生命的筆……

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