Sometimes, I was afraid lest I should be charged with ingratitude;
有时，我真的担心自己被指责忘恩负义，
but I still proposed to travel, and therefore would not confine myself by marriage.
不过我仍然打算出去见世面，因此不会受婚姻的束缚。
"In my fiftieth year, I began to suspect that the time of my traveling was past;
在我五十岁时，我开始怀疑自己旅行的愿望恐要化为泡影，
and thought it best to lay hold on the felicity yet in my power, and indulge myself in domestic pleasures.
尽管我一生中的华年都用来追求影响力所带来的幸福，而未能享受家庭之快乐。
But, at fifty, no man easily finds a woman beautiful as the houries, and wise as Zobeide.
但是，人生五十有谁还能轻易找到貌美如花，像佐贝德那样聪明的女人。
I inquired and rejected, consulted and deliberated, till the sixty-second year made me ashamed of wishing to marry.
我到处打听，屡屡碰壁，直到六十二岁那年我方为自己想结婚的愿望而羞愧。
I had now nothing left but retirement; and for retirement I never found a time, till disease forced me from public employment.
现在，我除了归隐林下还有什么呢。可是，我一直没有时间真正停下来过隐居生活，直到疾病迫使我辞去公职。
"Such was my scheme, and such has been its consequence.
这就是我的计划，这就是我的计划所导致的后果。
With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, I trifled away the years of improvement;
对知识怀有难以满足的饥渴，可我却浪费了个人际遇能获得改善的那段岁月；
with a restless desire of seeing different countries, I have always resided in the same city;
对一览各个不同国家抱有难以遏制的愿望，可是我却始终住在同一座城市；
with the highest expectation of connubial felicity, I have lived unmarried;
对婚姻幸福抱有最高程度的渴望，可是我却终生未娶；
and with an unalterable resolution of contemplative retirement, I am going to die within the walls of Bagdad."
下定决心要过归隐林下的宁静生活，可是看来我终将在巴格达城里了此一生了。
