We had to have our cat put to sleep.
    對話
    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？你看來像哭了一場。
    貝西：不錯，我剛剛離開獸醫(yī)診所。
    辛迪：發(fā)生了什么事？
    貝西：我們得結(jié)束的貓兒性命。她患了腫瘤，無法治療。
    辛迪：啊，真令人難過。她多大了？
    貝西：十五歲。對貓來說，這是高齡了。但她就像我們家庭的一員，所以我們都很不開心。
    貝西說不得已結(jié)束了貓兒性命：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）就寢’，例如：At ten, I put the children to bed（我十點鐘安頓孩子就寢）。Put to sleep直譯是‘使入睡’，通常有兩個意思：一是用麻醉藥使人或動物失去知覺，一是把動物生命了結(jié)，一般會借助藥物，例如：(1) The anesthetist gave the patient an injection, which put him to sleep（麻醉師給病人打了一針，使他失去知覺）。(2) The dog was so badly wounded that we decided to put him to sleep（我們見狗兒傷得很重，決定讓他安樂死）。另一個‘使動物安樂死去’的說法，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 （叫獸醫(yī)了結(jié)這只貓的生命，以免它繼續(xù)受苦，實在是慈悲的事）。Mercy是‘慈悲’或‘憐憫’，所以‘無痛苦致死’或‘安樂死’叫mercy killing，例如：I told my son, after shooting the horse in the head, that it was a mercy killing（我一槍打在馬頭上把馬兒殺死，告訴兒子說，那是要它死得舒適）。此外，你還可以用to put an animal out of its misery/suffering（使動物在痛苦中得到解脫）來說殺死傷、病的動物，例如：Our dog had rabies, so we took him to the vet to put him out of his misery（我們的狗患了狂犬癥，于是我們帶它去獸醫(yī)診所，讓它安樂死）。