By Laura Freeman

“Im afraid you do not like your pen，” says Miss Bingley to Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice1. “Let me mend it for you. I mend pens remarkably well.” You know then—if you didnt suspect it already—that Mr. Darcy could never marry Miss Bingley. Is there anything so maddening as someone interfering with ones pen？

“Could I borrow your pen for a moment？” they ask as they jot down a shopping list or scribble a booking reference.2 “No！” you want to scream in possessive anguish3. “Its mine！” They are sure to split the nib， chew the end， absent-mindedly tug the clip that fixes it to the front of your diary.4 Thats if you do get it back. The chances are that theyll pocket it， unthinking， and thats another pen lost to a scrounger5. The late architect Zaha Hadid used to cut a pen-shaped groove out of the middle hundred or so pages of her sketchbooks and hide a pen in there like a skeleton key in a spy story.6 It was always on hand to her； hidden from pen-pinchers7.

A proper paper diary demands a proper pen. Not a doodle Biro.8 Not one of those mini pens you pick up at Argos9. But a good one： a Montblanc or Parker fountain pen； a Faber-Castell fine-liner， a Staedtler draughtsmans point.10 I favour aluminium barrel pens from the Japanese stationers Muji.11 They are ￡4.95 a go， a price that would buy 40 multi-pack Bics，12 but nothing else will do. If a stranger leans across on a train and asks： “Could I pinch that for a second？” and swipes my pen from the tray table to make a note in the margin， I watch with jealous agony until I have it back.13

曾經(jīng)，手握一支灌滿墨水的鋼筆在信紙上沙沙作響，萬千思緒便隨墨水自筆尖化成厚重的文字，收信的人見字如面；如今，快節(jié)奏的生活與數(shù)碼產(chǎn)品的興起，使得鋼筆書寫日漸式微。然而仍有作者這樣的人迷戀鋼筆，迷戀鋼筆書寫留下的痕跡。因為恰恰是那難以磨滅的痕跡，體現(xiàn)了書寫者的承諾和決心。

Reading the Harry Potter books as a child， I wasnt nearly so excited about shopping for wands in Diagon Alley as I was about quills.14 Eagle feather， peacock， phoenix15. Quills that corrected your spelling， QuickQuotes quills for journalists. A pen changes how you think. Without cut-and-paste and the “delete” button you are forced to be less slapdash， to choose your words.16 Think before you ink. Anthony Powell wrote in his memoirs that：17 “My first novel was set down with a pen， some of the proceeds of its sales devoted to buying a typewriter.” Did his mind work differently as he click-clacked18 across the keys？

Surely part of the reason we have all become so flaky， cancelling meetings， not showing up for restaurant reservations， asking： “Can we take a rain check？” is because so many of us tap dates and times into our iPhone calendars.19 Worse， the iCalendar “reads” our emails， sees “Lunch 1pm Wednesday” in an email and slots20 it into the schedule. People who keep proper diaries， writing their appointments in indelible21 ink， are far more likely to show up on the day. It shows commitment and resolution.

I feel panicked without one. What if the scheme for a novel， a future bestseller， occurs when I am out walking and I have no pen and nothing to write on？ The blank pages at the backs of diaries are just the place for half-formed plots and conversations overheard on the bus. Keep your diary close， and a pen in every pocket.

1. Pride and Prejudice： 《傲慢與偏見》，英國小說家簡·奧斯汀創(chuàng)作的長篇小說，以愛情、婚姻與財富為主題，富有喜劇色彩，展現(xiàn)了英國鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)中產(chǎn)階級的生活。賓利小姐是達西先生好友的妹妹，她一心想嫁給達西先生。本文引用了賓利小姐向達西先生獻殷勤的片段。

2. jot down： 草草記下，匆匆寫下；scribble： 潦草書寫。

3. anguish： 極度痛苦。

4. nib：（鋼）筆尖；tug： 用力拖（拉）；clip： 夾子。

5. scrounger： 借而不還的人。

6. groove： 溝，槽；skeleton key： 萬能鑰匙。

7. pen-pincher： 擅自拿取別人鋼筆的人，pinch的意思是擅自拿取。

8. doodle： 涂鴉；Biro： 比羅，圓珠筆的俗稱，以其發(fā)明者匈牙利記者拉迪斯洛·比羅而得名。

9. Argos： 愛顧，英國領先的百貨零售連鎖商。

10. Montblanc： 萬寶龍，德國的一家精品鋼筆、手表與配件的制造商；Parker： 派克，總部位于英國的跨國公司，以銷售精品鋼筆而聞名；Faber-Castell： 輝柏嘉，歐洲最古老的品牌之一，德國著名制筆企業(yè)；fine-liner： 水性筆；Staedtler： 施德樓，德國文具公司，國際知名品牌；draughtsman： 繪圖員。

11. aluminium： 鋁；stationer： 文具商，文具店；Muji： 無印良品，日本著名日常用品零銷商。

12. go： 一次提供量，此處指“單支筆”；Bic： 比克，法國著名文具品牌，以廉價而高質(zhì)量的圓珠筆而聞名。

13. tray table： 托盤桌；margin： 邊緣；agony： 極度痛苦。

14. Harry Potter： 《哈利·波特》，英國作家J. K. 羅琳創(chuàng)作的系列魔幻文學小說；wand： 魔杖；Diagon Alley： 對角巷，《哈利·波特》中英國魔法界最繁華的商業(yè)區(qū)；quill： 羽毛筆。

15. phoenix： 鳳凰。

16. 沒有剪切和粘貼及“刪除”鍵，這就迫使你更為慎重地選擇你的用詞。slap-dash： 草率的。

17. Anthony Powell： 安東尼·鮑威爾（1905—2000），英國小說家，代表作為《與時代合拍的舞蹈》；memoir：回憶錄。

18. click-clack： 發(fā)出咔噠咔噠的聲音。

19. flaky： 古怪的，健忘的；take a rain check： 改期。

20. slot： 把……排入。

21. indelible： 留下難以去除的痕跡的。