美国语文第六册 第23期:生活中通常貌似真实的计划(5)

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　　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 retirement²; 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 connubial³ 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。

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