话题未免悲伤了，不过，生老病死是人生常理。在向逝者的遗体告别时，想没想过如何用英语表达“遗体”？请看《中国日报》一段有关国务院副总理黄菊逝世的新闻报道：

Vice-Premier Huang Ju's remains¹ were cremated² in Beijing yesterday.

Huang, also a member of the Standing³ Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, died of illness at 2:03 am on June 2 in Beijing at the age of 69.

报道中的“remains”指的就是“遗体”，“遗体火化”则可表达为“Sb's remains were cremated”。

通常情况下，“remains”表示“剩余物、残余”，如：The remains of the meal littered the table.（剩饭撒了一桌子。） 此外，“remains”还可用来指“残骸、遗物”，如：the remains of an aircraft（飞机残骸），literal remains（遗稿）。

最后，再顺便提一下“向遗体告别”。“告别”一般用动词词组“to pay last respects to/to bid farewell to”，但在该短语中，“遗体”一般用人指代，如：

Top leaders, including President and Party General Secretary Hu Jintao, paid their final respects to Huang Ju yesterday at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery⁴ .（昨天，国家主席胡锦涛等中央领导人都前往八宝山革命公墓向黄菊的遗体进行告别。）

或者，“向遗体告别”也可表达为“to bid farewell at the coffin”