美文欣赏: Write Your Own Life谱写生命的乐

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。

美文欣赏: Write Your Own Life谱写生命的乐章

You couldn't see how much ink it had. It might

run dry after the first few tentatives 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.

你无法看出里面究竟有多少墨水。或许在你试探性地写上几个字后它就会枯干，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。

美文欣赏: Write Your Own Life谱写生命的乐章

Under the rules of the game, you really never

know.

在这个游戏规则下，你真的永远不会预知结果。

You have to take a chance! Actually, no rule of

the game states you must do anything.

你只能去碰运气！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，你可以把它扔在书架上或是抽屉里让它的墨水干枯。

美文欣赏: Write Your Own Life谱写生命的乐章

But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it?

但是，如果你决定用它的话，你会用它做什么呢？

How would you play the game? Would you plan and plan before you ever wrote a word?

你将怎样来进行这个游戏呢?你会不写一个字，总是计划来计划去吗?

Would your plans be so extensive that you

never  got to the writing?

你会不会由于计划过于宏大而来不及动笔呢？

美文欣赏: Write Your Own Life谱写生命的乐章

Or would you take the pen in hand, plunge right

in and just do it,struggling to keep up with the

twist and turns of the torrents of words that

take you where they take you?

或者你只是手里拿着笔，一头扎进去写，不停地写，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,

你会小心谨慎地写字，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？

美文欣赏: Write Your Own Life谱写生命的乐章

Now, suppose someone gave you a life…

现在，假如有人给予你一支生命的笔……