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 to believe that the pen will write forever and proceed accordingly? and of what would you write: of love? hatred? fun? misery? life? death? nothing? or 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?
假设有人给了你一支钢笔——一支密封的纯色钢笔。你看不出它有多少墨水。它可能在最初的几句试探性的话之后就干涸了，或者仅仅持续了足够长的时间，就可以创造出一部（或几部）杰作，它将永远持续下去，并对事物的安排产生影响。你在开始之前不知道。在游戏规则下，你真的永远不会知道。你得冒险！事实上，没有游戏规则规定你必须做任何事。你可以把钢笔放在架子上或抽屉里，在那里它会干的，不用的，而不是拿起和使用它。但如果你真的决定使用它，你会用它做什么？你怎么玩这个游戏？你会在写一个字之前计划好吗？你的计划会如此广泛以至于你都没能写下来吗？或者你会把笔拿在手上，一头扎进去，努力跟上他们带你去哪里的滔滔不绝的文字？你会像下一刻钢笔可能会干涸一样，小心翼翼地写字，还是假装相信钢笔会永远地写字，然后继续写下去？你会写什么：爱？仇恨？好玩吗？痛苦？生活？死亡？没有什么？或者其他什么？你写信仅仅是为了取悦自己，还是为了取悦他人，抑或是为了他人而写作？你的笔触是颤抖的胆怯还是辉煌的大胆？花里胡哨还是平淡无奇？你会写信吗？一旦你有了笔，没有规则说你必须写作。你会画画吗？乱涂？涂鸦还是画画？你会留在队伍里还是在队伍里，或者根本看不到队伍，即使他们在那里？还是他们？这里有很多事情要考虑，不是吗？