Lesson 51 Reward for virtue

My friend, Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all, he wrote out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden. The list included most of the things Hugh loves: butter, potatoes, rice, beer, milk, chocolate; and sweets. Yesterday I paid him a visit. I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Hugh was still as fat as ever. He led me into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets!

我的朋友休一直很胖，但是近来情况变得越发糟糕，以致他决定节食。他是一星期前开始节食的。首先，他开列了一张长长的单子，上面列了所有禁吃的食物。这张单子上的大多数食物都是休喜欢吃的：黄油、土豆、米饭、啤酒、牛奶、巧克力和糖果。昨天我去看望了他。我按响了门铃，当看到休仍和往常一样胖时，我并不感到惊奇。他把我领进屋，慌忙把一个大包藏到了桌子下面。显然他感到很尴尬。当我问他正干什么时，他内疚地笑了，然后把那个大包拿到了桌上。他解释说，他的饮食控制得太严格了，以致不得不偶尔奖赏自己一下。接着他给我看了包里的东西。里面装了5大块巧克力和3袋糖果！

Grammar

1. 动词时态：过去进行时

2. 过去时的被动语态

以when，while，as等引导的时间状语从句，表过去“当…的时候”，从句用一般过去时（动词为瞬间动词），主句用过去进行时表正在进行的动作（谓语为延续性动词）。

Exercise

1. – You were out when I called you this morning.

 – Oh, I __________ for a friend from Australia at the station.

A. was waiting   B. had waited   C. am waiting   D. have waited

2. Things __________ bad recently so that she had to go to see a doctor.

A. has gotten   B. is getting   C. gets   D. got

解析：

1. 答案：A。表示过去某段时间正在做的事，使用过去进行时。

2. 答案：D。后半句用一般过去时，而前半句有标志词recently，表示已发生，因此主从句时态一致。