Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.

VOA: special.2011.01.20

So what we think we know derives chiefly from archeological evidence, which is before writing--mute evidence that has to be interpreted and is very complicated, and is far from secure.

我们目前所认为的史实,主要都是从考古证据中所得,这些无声的证据出现于文字记录之前,因此就需要繁复的考证及解读,这些考证未必可靠

耶鲁公开课 - 古希腊历史简介课程节选

I think there's the old saying, "You can't run before you walk." and I think it's basically the same thing about writing.

有句俗话叫，“你不能未立先走。”我觉得写作跟这个是一个道理。

英语阅读：技巧 - SpeakingMax英语口语达人

We don't, of course, have any original copies of these materials as they came off the pen of whoever it was who was writing them, and in fact before the middle of the twentieth century, our oldest manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts of the Bible dated to the year 900.

我们当然没有任何最早时期那些笔者的,手稿，而且事实上,在20世纪中期之前我们有的最古老的手稿,和手稿碎片都是公元900年时候的。

耶鲁公开课 - 旧约导论课程节选

Now we know that Milton was blind probably well before the time he began writing Paradise Lost, and therefore, of course, he was then unable to read.

现在我们知道弥尔顿很可能失明了,这早于他开始写《失乐园》的时间，因此，他不能通过眼睛阅读。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选