No sooner had the moonstone touched his chest than the coat and hat fell away.

VOA: special.2009.02.28

And you meant to get to it sooner, but you had a lot of other things to do.

本来是打算早点开始准备的，但你总有很多别的事要做。

耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选

It's a way of showing in one number that, for example,a diabetic or an obese person died sooner but also had years of poor health.

VOA: standard.2010.08.10