王迈迈英语

　　 
　　We had to have our cat put to sleep.
　　对话
　　Cindy: What's the matter, you look as if you've been crying?
　　Betsy: I have, I've just come from the vet's.
　　Cindy: What happened?
　　Betsy: We had to have our cat put to sleep. She had a tumor which was incurable.
　　Cindy: Oh dear! I'm really sorry to hear that. How old was she?
　　Betsy: She was 15, which is quite old for a cat. But she really was like one of the family. That's why we're all so upset.
　　辛迪：什么事？你看来像哭了一场。
　　贝西：不错，我刚刚离开兽医诊所。
　　辛迪：发生了什么事？
　　贝西：我们得结束的猫儿性命。她患了肿瘤，无法治疗。
　　辛迪：啊，真令人难过。她多大了？
　　贝西：十五岁。对猫来说，这是高龄了。但她就像我们家庭的一员，所以我们都很不开心。
　　贝西说不得已结束了猫儿性命：We had to have our cat put to sleep。留意不要把put to sleep和put to bed混淆：put to bed是‘使（小孩等）就寝’，例如：At ten, I put the children to bed（我十点钟安顿孩子就寝）。Put to sleep直译是‘使入睡’，通常有两个意思：一是用麻醉药使人或动物失去知觉，一是把动物生命了结，一般会借助药物，例如：(1) The anesthetist gave the patient an injection, which put him to sleep（麻醉师给病人打了一针，使他失去知觉）。(2) The dog was so badly wounded that we decided to put him to sleep（我们见狗儿伤得很重，决定让他安乐死）。另一个‘使动物安乐死去’的说法，是to put (an animal) down，例如：It will be a mercy to have the cat put down by a vet to end its suffering （叫兽医了结这只猫的生命，以免它继续受苦，实在是慈悲的事）。Mercy是‘慈悲’或‘怜悯’，所以‘无痛苦致死’或‘安乐死’叫mercy killing，例如：I told my son, after shooting the horse in the head, that it was a mercy killing（我一枪打在马头上把马儿杀死，告诉儿子说，那是要它死得舒适）。此外，你还可以用to put an animal out of its misery/suffering（使动物在痛苦中得到解脱）来说杀死伤、病的动物，例如：Our dog had rabies, so we took him to the vet to put him out of his misery（我们的狗患了狂犬症，于是我们带它去兽医诊所，让它安乐死）。