第9章 Suppose Someone Gave You a Life! 假如有人給了你一次生命
- 當(dāng)英語成為時(shí)尚:生活全由你創(chuàng)造
- 李俊葉
- 1750字
- 2015-08-17 10:14:29
Anonymous
心靈寄語
假如有人給了你一支生命之筆,你會如何書寫呢?這是一個(gè)有關(guān)生活態(tài)度的問題。積極的生活態(tài)度會讓我們每一天微笑著面對生活,毫不吝嗇地傳播著快樂,溫暖著身邊的每個(gè)人。而消極的生活態(tài)度會讓你的每一天都比別人更加黯淡。
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 tentative1 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 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 torrents2 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?Of others?Or yourself by writing for others?
Would your strokes be tremblingly3 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?scribble4?doodle5 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……
佚名
假如有人給你一支筆——這是一支密封的、純色的鋼筆。你無法看到里面有多少墨水。也許隨便試寫幾個(gè)字就可能用盡了墨水,但也許里面的墨水足以創(chuàng)造一部(或幾部)名垂千古或是打破陳規(guī)的著作。而事情的發(fā)展在你動(dòng)筆之前卻難以預(yù)料。
根據(jù)這個(gè)游戲的規(guī)則,你確實(shí)永遠(yuǎn)也不會知道未來的事。但你必須自己去嘗試!事實(shí)上,這個(gè)游戲的規(guī)則并沒有規(guī)定你一定要使用這支鋼筆。除了拿起鋼筆使用它,你也可以把這支筆放在書架上或是抽屜里,讓墨水慢慢干涸,從不理會。但是,一旦你決定使用這支筆,就要考慮你要用它來做什么?怎么去玩這場游戲?
你會在動(dòng)筆前進(jìn)行周密的計(jì)劃嗎?你的計(jì)劃會不會過于廣泛,以至于難以下筆?你會不會提起筆,迫不及待地開始寫,任意揮毫,努力跟上這些迂回曲折的筆跡,任由它們帶領(lǐng)你在詞海中暢游?
你會不會謹(jǐn)慎小心地下筆,好像擔(dān)心墨水會隨時(shí)干涸一樣?你會不會假裝或相信(或自欺欺人地假裝相信)筆中的墨水永遠(yuǎn)不會枯竭,任你使用?
你會用它來寫些什么?關(guān)于愛情?仇恨?樂趣?痛苦?生活?死亡?虛無空空還是世事萬千?
你寫的東西是用來自娛自樂?還是取悅他人?或是寫給其他人來愉悅自身?
你的筆畫看起來是顫抖膽怯的還是華麗大膽的?是華而不實(shí)的還是樸實(shí)無華的?
你會用這支筆去書寫嗎?假如你擁有了這支筆,沒有規(guī)則規(guī)定你一定就要用它去寫。你會用它去潦草地寫?胡亂涂抹?信手涂鴉?還是認(rèn)真描繪?你會沿著紙上的線格寫,還是對那些線格熟視無睹?還是真的有什么線格在紙上嗎?
此刻,有很多東西值得我們?nèi)ニ伎?,不是嗎?
現(xiàn)在,假如有人給了你一次生命……
詞匯空間 ocabulary
1.tentative adj. 試探性的,嘗試性的
2.torrent n. 奔流,激流,洪流
3.tremblingly adv. 顫抖地
4.scribble v. 潦草地書寫,亂畫
5.doodle v. 心不在焉地亂寫、亂畫
文化鏈接 Culture Background
鋼筆的由來
鋼筆現(xiàn)在已是人們普遍使用的書寫工具,它發(fā)明于19世紀(jì)初。1809年,英國頒發(fā)了第一批關(guān)于貯水筆的專利證書,這標(biāo)志著鋼筆的正式誕生。
在早期的貯水筆中,墨水不能自由流動(dòng)。寫字的人壓一下活塞,墨水才開始流動(dòng),寫一陣之后又得壓一下,否則墨水就流不出來了。這樣寫起字來當(dāng)然很不方便。
到1884年,美國一家保險(xiǎn)公司的一個(gè)叫沃特曼的雇員,發(fā)明了一種用毛細(xì)管供給墨水的方法,比較好地解決了上述問題。這種筆的筆端可以卸下來,墨水用一個(gè)小的滴管注入。
最早的能夠自己吸墨水的筆出現(xiàn)于20世紀(jì)初期,采取了一個(gè)活塞來吸墨水。當(dāng)筆中采用了皮膽后,就要用一個(gè)鐵片插入一個(gè)縫中去擠壓皮膽來吸墨水。到1952年,又出現(xiàn)了用一根管子伸進(jìn)墨水中吸水的施諾克爾筆。直到1956年,才發(fā)明了現(xiàn)在常用的毛細(xì)管筆。現(xiàn)在還有一些美術(shù)鋼筆等。
妙語拾珠
1.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 torrents2 of words that take you where they take you?
你會不會提起筆,迫不及待地開始寫,任意揮毫,努力跟上這些迂回曲折的筆跡,任由它們帶領(lǐng)你在詞海中暢游?
2.And of what would you write:Of love?Hate?Fun?Misery?Life?Death?Nothing?Everything?Would your strokes be tremblingly3 timid or brilliantly bold?Fancy with a flourish or plain?
你會用它來寫些什么?關(guān)于愛情?仇恨?樂趣?痛苦?生活?死亡?虛無空空還是世事萬千?你的筆畫看起來是顫抖膽怯的還是華麗大膽的?是華而不實(shí)的還是樸實(shí)無華的?
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