My brother, Jim, was diagnosed at age 73 years with colon cancer metastatic to the liver, lymph nodes, and lungs. He and his wife were avid hikers and after retirement had hoped to visit as many national parks as possible. Big Bend National Park in Texas, along the Rio Grande River bordering Mexico, at over 800,000 acres, is one of the largest and least-visited parks in the country. The park has vast expanses of desert and high mountain islands, with some peaks over 6,000 feet. We had hoped to have Jim visit us in 2020, but both cancer and COVID-19 interfered until this past spring when we were finally able to arrange a trip to the park. It had been a few years since I had last seen Jim at our most recent family wedding. When he arrived in Austin, he appeared gaunt and frail. He had lost his taste, and many foods burned his mouth. He had lost weight and was weaker. He barely felt his feet. He struggled to just get through the day. Even so, he hiked up to a promontory overlooking the Rio Grande one day and into a canyon the next and seemed to get stronger as the week went on (Figs 1 and 2).

中文翻译：

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俳句中的生与死

我的兄弟吉姆在 73 岁时被诊断出结肠癌已转移至肝脏、淋巴结和肺部。他和他的妻子是狂热的徒步旅行者，退休后曾希望参观尽可能多的国家公园。德克萨斯州的大弯国家公园位于与墨西哥接壤的里奥格兰德河沿岸，占地超过 800,000 英亩，是该国最大和游客最少的公园之一。公园内有广袤无垠的沙漠和高山岛屿，部分山峰海拔超过6000英尺。我们曾希望 Jim 在 2020 年来看我们，但癌症和 COVID-19 都对我们造成了干扰，直到今年春天我们终于能够安排去公园旅行。我在我们最近的家庭婚礼上最后一次见到吉姆已经有几年了。当他到达奥斯汀时，他显得憔悴而虚弱。他失去了味觉，许多食物灼伤了他的嘴巴。他体重减轻了，而且更虚弱了。他几乎感觉不到自己的脚。他挣扎着度过这一天。即便如此，他还是有一天爬上了一个俯瞰格兰德河的海角，第二天又爬上了峡谷，而且随着时间的推移，他似乎变得更强壮了（图 1和2).