Last month, I had a 91 year old hospice patient, "old John who was dying of CHF. His wife had died 2 years ago, so he was alone. He had long since given up being able to care for his pet dog "Pepper", a small, rat-looking, yappy dog who was 16 (112 in dog years) herself. Pepper had to be taken away a few weeks ago so she could be taken care of by John's daughter, who lived 10 miles away.
上个月，教会办的招待所里一位91岁的病人找我去看病。老约翰患有严重的充血性心力衰竭，已经到了弥留之际。他是单身，妻子两年前去世了。他已经有很长一段时间不能照顾他的狗"佩佩"了，这只狗今年16岁(相当于人112岁)，很小，长得像老鼠一样，动不动就叫个没完。几个星期前，佩佩给带到了十英里以外，老约翰的女儿不得不这样做，因为只有那样她才能在家里照顾这只狗。

I was called in to see John after he had declined to the point that his doctor had discharged John from the hospital to go home and be comfortable for his last few hours.
拒绝了前一位医生的建议后，老约翰找我去照料他。那位医生让他离开医院回家去，舒舒服服地过完最后的时间。

By this point, John was comatose, nonresponsive to family and obviously near the end. Only myself and John's son-in-law were in the house. The rest of the family kept their vigil at their own houses, waiting for my call.
此时，他已经昏迷了，在全家人的呼唤之下也没有任何反应，毫无疑问生命即将走到尽头。屋子里只有我和他的女婿在，其他人都在自己各自的房间内等候我的通知，谁也没有睡觉。

All of a sudden, John opened his eyes and said " Come on Pepper", and died.
突然，老约翰睁开眼，说道，"来吧，佩佩"，随后就死去了。

While not unexpected, the death was so quick and strange, we were kind of stunned. Not 2 minutes later, John's daughter telephoned to tell us Pepper had died.
这一切出乎我们的意料，死亡来得如此的迅速而且奇怪，我们都有点不知所措。还不到两分钟，老约翰的女儿打电话来告诉我们，佩佩刚才死了。

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作文地带知识拓展:

• 英语（English）属于印欧语系日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支，最早被中世纪的英国使用，并因其广阔的殖民地而成为世界使用面积最广的语言。英国人的祖先盎格鲁部落是后来迁移到大不列颠岛地区的日耳曼部落之一，称为英格兰。这两个名字都来自波罗地海半岛的Anglia。该语言与弗里斯兰语和下撒克森语密切相关，其词汇受到其他日耳曼语族语言的影响，尤其是北欧语（北日耳曼语），并在很大程度上由拉丁文和法文撰写。

  英语的英文释义：

  English 名词 uk  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ us  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

  the language that is spoken in the UK, the US, and in many other countries

  英语

  American/British English

  美式／英式英语

  Do you speak English?

  你会说英语吗？

  English   形容词 adjective   uk  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ us  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

  in or relating to the English language

  英语的

  an English teacher

  英语老师

  relating to or from England

  英格兰的;英国的

  English films/food/people

  英国电影／食品／人

  English law

  英格兰法律