[美文欣賞]

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!

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...

[參考譯文]

人生之筆

假如有人送你一支筆，一支不可拆卸的單色鋼筆。

看不出里面究竟有多少墨水。或許在你試探性地寫上幾個字后它就會枯干，或許足夠用來創作一部影響深遠的不朽巨著(或是幾部)。而這些，在動筆前，都是無法得知的。 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!

你又會用筆寫下些什么呢：愛?恨?喜?悲?生?死?虛無?萬物?你寫作只是為了愉己?還是為了悅人?抑或是借替人書寫而愉己?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?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。也許你要畫素描，亂寫一氣?信筆涂鴉?畫畫?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?嗯，真的有線嗎?

這里面有許多東西值得考慮，不是嗎?

現在，假如有人給予你一支生命的筆……