An Exhausting Struggle
Balzac once said artistic creation was “an exhausting strug-gle”．He believed that only by tenacious( [te·na·cious || tɪ'neɪʃəs]adj. 紧握的; 强的; 坚持的, 固执的, 顽强的; 坚韧的) work and fearing not afraid of difficulties could you show your talent．It was just like the soldiers charging the fortress([for·tress || 'fɔrtrɪs /'fɔːt-]n. 城堡, 要塞)，not relaxing your effort foreven a moment．
Once Balzac wrote for hours on end， he was so tired that he could not hold out(坚持; 给予; 维持) any longer．He ran to a friend's home and plunged head long on the sofa．He wanted to sleep，but he told hisfriend he must be woken up within an hour．His friend，seeing him so tired，did not wake him up on time．After he woke up，Balzac got very angry at his friend．Fortunately his friend had an intimate understanding of him and did not quarrel with him．
Balzac did not smoke cigarettes，nor did he drink any alco－hol． But he got one habit：while he was writing he always drankvery strong coffee that could almost anaesthetize([æ'ni:sθitaiz] vt. 使 ... 麻醉) his stomach．Hedidn't add milk，nor did he add sugar in his coffee．It would not satisfy him until it was made bitter．People generally did not like to drink such bitter coffee．That had strange stimulus( ['stimjuləs;'stimjələs] n. 刺激，激励，刺激品) effect to him，and could help him drive the sleepiness away，according to himself．