I didn't love being rejected, but my expectations were low and my patience was high. Again - the goal was to get published before death.

我不喜欢被拒绝，但是我抱的期望低，而我的耐心足够高(还有，我的目标是生前发表，而我年轻而且健康)。

youdao

In a letter to Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, who called on their billionaire peers to give away half of their wealth, Chen said it is noble and great to return one's wealth to the world before death.

他说，能够把财富归还世界，是一种高尚和伟大。

youdao

It is significant that he changed his will only days before his death.

他在临终前几天修改遗嘱，这很能说明问题。

《牛津词典》

He continued to broadcast on VOA until not long before his death in 1996, at the age of 75.

VOA: special.2009.01.30

Even before the death of de Man and the revelations about his past, there were a lot of people sort of shaking their fists and saying, "What about history? What about reality?"

甚至在德曼逝世之前，对他的过往的揭露之前，就有许多人挑战他的观点，说道，那历史呢，现实呢“

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

We talked about the inevitability of death; we talked about the variability, that people have different lengths of time before they die.

我们讨论过了死亡的不可避免性;,我们讨论过了其可变性，不同的人在他们死之前有所的时间长度不同。

耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选

Without a "sign of repentance before death, a religious burial can be refused, " the decree states.

BBC: German Catholics lose church rights for unpaid tax

But Chavez, in this case, made it clear before death, apparently, that he wanted Maduro to lead in the interim.

FORBES: Hugo Chavez's Death Leaves Leadership Vacuum In Venezuela

In the aftermath of the World Trade Centre's collapse, it announced that it would pay out even before death certificates were issued.

ECONOMIST: At least one insurance company in the world is thriving