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Expression "That last time"



 
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ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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Expression "That last time" Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:08 am  Expression "That last time"
 

Hi,

Could you help me have a better understanding for the below passage?

Quote:
The people got sicker and sicker the deeper he moved into combat, until finally in the hospital that last time there had been the soldier in white, who could not have been any sicker without being dead, and he soon was.
The soldier in white was constructed entirely of gauze, plaster and a thermometer, and the thermometer was merely an adornment left balanced in the empty dark hole in the bandages over his mouth early each morning and late each afternoon by Nurse Cramer and Nurse Duckett right up to the afternoon Nurse Cramer read the thermometer and discovered he was dead.


1. What does 'that last time' suggest? Does it simply mean 'the previous time'?

2. what does 'balanced...by' mean? Does it just suggest 'placed with a good balance...by'?

Thank you!

Haihao
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Expression "That last time" Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:20 am  Expression "That last time"
 

.
1-- Yes. Here, 'that' indicates that the speaker visualizes the occurence vividly, I think.

2-- A thermometer is an elongated object; the mouth hole in the plaster cast is thin-edged. Envision balancing your spoon across one edge of your coffee cup, and you'll get the image. 'By' of course only indicates the agents-- the two nurses-- who placed the thermometer there each morning.
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Expression "That last time" Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:40 am  Expression "That last time"
 

Now I've understood everything, I guess. Thank you! Mr Micawber.
Haihao
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Joined: 26 Oct 2006
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