有一读者问： 我已学了好几年英语，但对倒叙“过去的过去”发生的事件时如何用过去完成时和过去一般时，仍不甚了了。关于这个问题，在一般语法著作中又往往或不涉及，或语焉不详。所以请你帮助我彻底弄清这个问题如何？
这个问题提得很好。恐怕有不少人和你一样，对这个问题在不同程度上是模糊不清的。现在让我们探讨如下。
倒叙“过去的过去（或先过去）”的事件时，当然可以用过去完成时。这在基本语法中已经学过，这里只举一二例即可：
(1)The Reds also knew about Shi Dakai and that the main cause of his defeat had been a costly delay. Arriving at the banks of Tatu, Prince Shi had paused for three days to honour the birth of his son — an imperial prince. Those days of rest had given his enemy the chance to concentrate against him. Realizing his mistake too late, Prince Shi had tried to break the enemy encirclement, but it was impossible to manoeuvre in the narrow terrain of the defiles.
(2)Nearly two years passed before Paul met Zhukhrai again. Paul had grown into a man, grown up with shells bursting all round him, grown up in suffering and discomfort. He had seen many terrible things. Together with thousands of others like himself, burning with the fire of struggle for the power of their class, he had marched from one side of the country to the other. He had become one of the “organization of tough fellows” that Zhukhrai had talked to him about.
一般说来，用过去完成时进行倒叙的情况有三：一是强调时间的先后关系；二是给人一种离现在很遥远的感觉；三是多表示连续发生在“先过去”的事件(events)。
然而，完全用过去完成时进行倒叙的情况毕竟不多。在较多的情况下，是将过去完成时和过去一般时交错在一起使用的。有时则可以完全用过去一般时进行倒叙。在什么情况下可以用过去一般时进行倒叙呢？ 下面让我们列举几种比较常见的情况：
1. 如有表先过去的时间状语，一般皆可用过去一般时进行倒叙，后面接着也多用过去一般时，如：
(3)In the beginning of February I was married to Miss Olivia L. Langdon... I saw her in her brother Charley's room in the summer of 1867. She became an invalid at sixteen through falling on the ice ... （这是美国著名作家马克·吐温在他的妻子死后所作的一段倒叙）
(4)He had married a nurse sixteen years earlier; when Helen had been born the nurse gave up her nursing to be a full-time mother. After six months she wanted to be a nurse again, but there were no day-care centers in Iowa in those years, and Ernie Holm's new wife grew gradually distant under the strain of being a full-time mother and an ex-nurse. One day she left him. She left him with a full-time daughter and no explanation. （这一段倒叙先用过去完成时had married, 但在时间状语之后即用过去一般时gave up，在时间状语after six months之后亦用过去一般时wanted, were和grew；时间状语one day之后亦用过去一般时left）
2. 在不会引起误会的情况下，即使没有表示“过去的过去”的时间状语，亦可用过去一般时进行倒叙，如：
(5)Her victory over Martina Navratilova here Sunday stretched her unbeaten run in the event to four years and earned her a fourth sports car.She made a bad start, losing five of the first six games. But she gradually wore down Navratilova with her consistent, baseline game. （这里谈的是网球赛。第二、第三句是倒叙，皆用过去一般时，并没有表“过去的过去”的时间状语）
(6)— Did she go alone or did you go with her?
— I went with her — that is, to the door.
— Why only to the door?
— Well, we talked it over, and she thought just as I did , that it might be better that way... I thought the doctor might be willing to help her far less if she went by herself than if we both went together. （口语中经常用过去一般时进行倒叙，如句中的talked, thought, did等）
3. 可先用过去完成时（可有时间状语）进行倒叙，然后转用过去一般时倒叙。这种倒叙比较常见。先用过去完成时的优点在于时间的先后关系清楚醒目。后用过去一般时则比较自然流畅，避免了过去完成时的笨重，如：
(7)It was twenty minutes past nine. Only five minutes before, she had been speaking. She had heard me at the piano and had said to the nurse:“He is singing a good-night song for me.” They had no idea that she was near to death. She was happy and speaking — and in an instant she was gone from this life. Five times in the last four months she spent an hour and more fighting violently for breath, and she lived in the awful fear of choking to death. Mercifully she was granted the gentlest and swiftest of deaths — by heart failure — and she never knew . She never knew ! （这也是马克·吐温在妻子死后所作的一段倒叙。第一句开头的it即指他妻子的死。先用过去完成进行时had been speaking[有时间状语only five minutes before]和过去完成时had heard与had said倒叙, 此后皆用过去一般时）
(8)A day before the commission arrived, there was a snowfall and a sudden frost. On the previous night, sparks and even tongues of flame had been seen flying from the baker's chimney. The baker was worried that a fire might break out and sent for Yash. （从第二句起开始倒叙。先用过去完成时had been seen[有时间状语on the previous night]后转用过去一般时was与sent）
4. 在倒叙中，过去一般时常用来表示一种单纯静态、看法、情景或事实。上述例（3）中的was married，例（4）中的wanted和were，例（7）中的had，was和knew，例（8）中的was worried等等，皆可作如是观。再如：
(9)He died two weeks ago. He was a remarkable man. （这里必须用was，表示他生前始终是一个了不起的人物, 如用had been则有“曾经一度是”的含义）
(10)It was supposed that the pearl buyers were individuals acting alone, bidding against one another for the pearls the fishermen brought. And once it had been so. But this was a wasteful method, for often, in the excitement of bidding for a fine pearl, too great a price had been paid to the fishermen. This was extravagant and not to be countenanced. Now there was only one pearl buyer with many hands... （从第二句开始倒叙，到第四句倒叙完。第三句和第四句中的过去一般时was皆表看法）
(11)We had a chimney sweep in town, nicknamed Black Yash... His father had been the town's chimney sweep, and Yash inherited the job. （过去一般时inherited在此强调事实，不强调时间关系）
值得注意的是，表静态或事实的过去一般时被用作开始倒叙（并可没有时间状语），如：
(12)Bessie died. She had a quarrel with the pimp and she went alone to Hong Kong. What she was looking for I will never know. One day she collapsed and died. It was 1937. （第二句即用过去一般时had和went倒叙，没有时间状语。顺便也请注意，第三句中的过去进行时was looking for也表过去的过去）
(13)The next day my husband arrived... We thought they were being unnecessarily secretive about train 91 to Chengde — we only got on it because we managed to tag along with a Swiss tour party for whom the barrier was specially unlocked. My husband was less lucky and never managed to get on his train. After much upbraiding of station staff he was put on the later, much slower train. （这里用过去一般时thought开始倒叙，也没有时间状语）
5. 用过去一般时便于进一步倒叙，表“先先过去”，如：
(14)An old lady informed the person of the parish that on the previous night she dreamed that she saw her grandmother, who had been dead for twenty years. （在on the previous night引导的倒叙中，用的是过去一般时dreamed和saw，以便用过去完成时had been做进一步倒叙，即表示“先先过去”）
(15)Herr Theobald was dead. He had dropped down clutching his heart in the hall, where he ventured one night to investigate what he thought was a prowler. It was only Duna, the malcontent bear, who was dressed in the dream man's pin-striped suit. Why Theobald's sister had dressed the bear in this fashion was not explained to me. （从第二句起开始倒叙。先用过去完成时had dropped，接着即转用过去一般时ventured, thought, was等，一直到最末一句用过去完成时had dressed进行进一步倒叙，表“先先过去”。注意最后一个时态是过去一般时was not explained, 表示一个过去事实，不强调时间关系上的“先先过去”，故不用过去完成时）
6. 在倒叙中，过去一般时常用在自由间接引语（没有引号）之中，以使叙述变得直接生动，如：
(16)After that, she told me, the hotel went from Class C to much worse. As the burden of management fell more heavily on her, she had less time for Duna and the bear grew senile and indecent in his habits. Once he bullied a mailman down a marble staircase at such a ferocious pace that the man fell and broke his hip...
7. 在倒叙中，宾语从句须用过去一般时表示它与谓语动词的过去完成时同时，如：
(17)Before he died he had told me that he was worried about his son. （that从句中的过去一般时was与谓语动词短语had told同时。如用过去完成时had been代替was，则其所表的时间要先于谓语动词短语had told）
(18)Malama was pleased, for she had observed how capably Jerush managed the work of making the big dress. （过去一般时managed与过去完成时had observed同时）
上面所举各例都比较简单。在更多的情况下，倒叙所用的时态往往错综复杂，需要仔细辨别，认真分析，才能理解作者的真实意图。下面试举一二例：
(19)Black Dobbe had no luck with men. Twice she had been engaged to baker's apprentices but in both instances they had returned the engagement contract to her. Some time afterwards she had received an engagement contract from an old man, a glazier who claimed that he was divorced , but it had later come to light that he still had a wife. （从第二句起开始倒叙。这里混用了过去完成时与过去一般时，过去完成时都用得比较规范，强调时间关系，表一系列事件；过去一般时则用在从句中，claimed表当时的事实，was divorced和had a wife不但表事实，而且皆与前面的主要谓语动词同时）
(20)They had almost forgotten that back in September 1962, they had been invited to tell their experience informally to a UFO study group in Quincy, Massachusetts, some months before they had begun their therapy with Dr. Simon. They had been unaware that at that meeting a tape recording had been made of their talk, which described in detail the experience and Betty's dreams resulting from the sighting. They were also unaware that this discussion later provided the basic information for the reporter who detailed the partial story in the series of articles in the Boston newspaper, appearing in the fall of 1965. Neither the Hills nor Dr. Simon had provided any direct information for this. （这里从back in September 1962开始倒叙。过去完成时had been invited当然是强调时间关系，表一事件；接着had begun用在before从句中，表一“先先过去”发生的事件，可谓之倒叙中的倒叙；过去完成时had been unaware在此也是强调时间关系，如用were unaware则强调静态，这都决定于作者的主观态度；过去完成时had been made表相继发生的事件；过去一般时described表一单纯事实，像是插入的话，绝非相继发生的事件；过去一般时were also unaware则强调状态，不强调时间关系，并显然指的是后来的情况。从这里起已转用过去一般时进行倒叙，所以后面都用过去一般时provided和detailed，而且这两个过去一般时又都与were also unaware同时；最后一句又强调时间关系，故又用过去完成时）
