Suppose someone gave you 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 ? 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? There's a lot to think about here, isn't there?

译文

假设有人给你-一个密封的，纯色的钢笔。你不能看到它有多少墨水。它可能会干枯后写上几个字就足够长的时间来创建一个杰作（或几个）会持续到永远，影响事物的变化。在你开始之前你不会知道。在这个游戏规则下，你真的不知道。你必须抓住每一个机会！

事实上，这个游戏里没有规则指定你必须要做什么。而不去使用钢笔，你可以把它放在书架上或抽屉里就干了，没有任何用处。但是，如果你决定要用它的话，你会做什么？你怎么玩这个游戏？你会在你开始写字之前计划吗？或者你的计划是非常广泛的，你永远不会动笔呢？或者你会把手中的笔，一头扎进去就去做，努力跟上的曲折？你会小心谨慎的写字，好象这支笔在下一个时刻就没有墨水了，或者你会假装相信笔可以写到永远？

那你会写些什么呢：爱？仇恨？好玩吗？痛苦？生活吗？死亡？什么？或一切吗？你写作只是为了愉己，或其他人，或由别人为你写的？你的落笔会是颤抖胆怯的还是鲜明果敢的？花里胡哨还是朴实无华？你会写吗？你一旦有了这支笔，没有规则说你必须写作。你会素描？涂鸦？信笔涂鸦？你会留在还是线上，或者根本看不到线，即便他们在那里？有很多值得思考的事情，不是吗？