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 or believe （or pretend to believe） that the pen will write forever and proceed accordingly？
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……
假如有人給了你一支筆，一支密封的、純色的水筆，里面有多少墨水你無法看到，很可能剛剛試著寫幾個字就用干；也可能足以完成一部或幾部輝煌之作，流傳千古，使世事為之大變。而這一切你在動筆之前無法知曉。
根據游戲的規則，你確實永遠也不會知道，只能碰碰運氣。而事實上，也沒有規則闡明你一定要做些什么。你可以不去執筆揮毫，而把筆擱在架子上、放在抽屜里，棄置不用，任墨水蒸發干凈。可是，如果你真的決定使用它，你會用來做什么呢？你會怎樣來做這個游戲？
你會窮思竭慮，計劃周全，然后才慢慢下筆嗎？你的計劃會不會廣泛龐雜，根本達不到寫作這一步？
你會不會提筆在手，迫不及待地投入其中，任由手中的筆、筆下的字引領著你在詞海中左突右沖？
你會不會小心下筆，似乎生怕墨水隨時都有耗盡的危機？會不會假裝或相信、或假裝相信筆中墨水永不會枯竭，任你神馳？
你會寫些什么？愛？恨？趣？苦？生？死？虛或實？
你是會以寫作自娛，還是取悅他人？還是為人寫作而愉悅自身？
你的一筆一畫會顫抖怯懦還是亮麗大膽？花里胡哨還是樸實無華？
你確實會去寫嗎？你一旦有了這支筆，卻也沒有規則說你一定就要去寫。你會粗略描摹？潦潦草草？信手涂鴉？還是認真描畫？
你會寫在線里還是寫在線上，或者全然不見？真的有什么線格嗎？這其中，有很多東西值得思考，不是嗎？
那么，假如有人給了你一支生命之筆……