托福语法：时间从句中一般过去时与过去完成时

A 由when连接的从句

一个过去的动作紧接另一动作时：

He called her a liar.

他骂她撒谎。

She smacked his face.

她打了他一个耳光。

可以用when把这两个一般过去时的句子连接起来。连接的条件是，从意思上可以明显看出后一动作跟随前一动作，二者并不是同时发生的：

When he called her a liar she smacked his face.

他骂她撒谎时，她打了他一个耳光。

两个过去时这样用时，通常存在这样的概念：第一个动作导致第二个动作，而后者是紧接前者发生的：

When he opened the window the bird flew out.

他一打开窗户鸟就飞出去了。

When the play ended the audience went home.

剧结束后，观众就回家了。

When he died he was given a state funeral.

他去世后，为他举行了国葬。

过去完成时用于when之后，是为了避免使用两个一般过去时可能给人造成两个动作同时发生的印象：

When he had shut the window we opened the door of the cage.

他关了窗户之后，我们把笼门打开了。(我们等他关紧了窗户才打开笼门。)

When she had sung her song she sat down.

她唱完歌之后坐了下来。(如写成 When she sang her song she satdown，可能造成她是坐着唱歌的印象。)

When he had seen all the pictures he said he was ready to leave.

他看了所有的画之后说他要走了。(在他看完画之后……)试和下句相比较：

When he saw all the pictures he expressed amazement that one manshould have painted so many.

他看见所有的画时，表示十分惊奇，一个人竟然画了这么多画。(他一看见画就这么说。)

过去完成时同样可以与as soon as，the moment，immediately连用。(关于as作为表示时间的连词的用法，参见第332节。)

B 过去完成时可以与till/until和before连用，强调一个动作结束或预期将结束，但要注意在till/until 过去完成时 一般过去时结构中，表示一般过去时的动作可以位于表示过去完成时的动作之前，而在before 过去完成时 一般过去时结构中表示一般过去时的动作总是位于表示过去完成时的动作之前：

He refused to go till he had seen all the pictures.

他在看完所有的画之后才同意走。

He did not wait till we had finished our meal.

他没等到我们吃完饭就走了。

Before we had finished our meal he ordered us back to work.

没等我们吃完饭，他就命令我们回去干活。

Before we had walked ten miles he complained of sore feet.

我们还没走出十英里路，他就抱怨脚痛了。

也可以在表示时间的从句中和主句中都用过去完成时：

It was a very expensive town.Before we had been here a week we hadspent all our money.

那是一个物价很贵的地方。我们到这儿还不到一星期，就花光了所有的钱。

C 在after之后一般用过去完成时态：

After the will had been read there were angry exclamations.

遗嘱宣读完之后，激起了一片愤怒的?时刻回顾更为过去的动作时，要用过去完成时。如果有两个这样的动作：He had beento school but he had learnt nothing there，so was now illiterate(他上过学但什么也没学到，因此现在还是个文盲)，而又想用时间连词把它们连接起来，就可以用when等连词连接两个过去完成时：

When he had been at school he had learnt nothing，so he was now illiter-ate.

他上学的时候什么也没学到，所以现在还是个文盲。

但更常见的情况是，这里时间从句中的动词用一般过去时：

When he was at school he had learnt nothing，

(译文同上。)

类似的例句还有：

He had stayed in his father’s firm till his father died.Then he had startedhis own business and was now a very successful man.

他在父亲的公司里一直呆到父亲去世。之后他便自己开业，其时已成为一个事业有成的商人。

E 表示认识、理解等的动词一般在时间从句中不用过去完成时，除非有时间修饰：

When she had known me for a year she invited me to tea.

她认识了我一年之后，邀请我吃茶点。

When I knew the work of one department thoroughly I was moved to thenext department.

在我完全熟悉了一个部门的工作之后，又被调到另一部门。相当于：

As soon as I knew…

试与下句比较：

When I had learnt the work of one department I was moved.

我学会一个部门的工作之后，就被调走了。

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