Past Continuous and Past Simple過去進行時和一般過去時
1. The most common use of the past continuous tense is to talk about something that was happening around a particular time in the past.
過去進行時態最常用的情況就是談論過去某個特定時間正在發生的某事。
• What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night? I was watching television.
I started watching television before 8 o’clock and I continued watching it after 8 o’clock.
我在8點前開始看電視，並且我一直看到8點後。
• In 1994 he was working in a small town in Poland.
• At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were travelling to the airport.
2. We often use the past continuous and the past simple tense together. When this happens, the past continuous describes a longer, ‘background’ action or situation and the past simple describes the action or events.
過去進行時態和一般過去時態一般是一起使用的。當兩者同時出現的時候，過去進行時描述的是一個更長的、背景動作和背景情況，而一般過去時則描述活動或者事件。
• When I woke up this morning it was raining and my father was singing in the kitchen.
• I was walking home, whistling happily, when I saw two masked men run out of the bank.
Often, the ‘action’ described by the past simple tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the past continuous tense.
一般來講，由一般過去時態來描述的“動作”會打斷由過去進行時態描述的“情況”。
• I broke my leg when I was skiing.
• I was playing a computer game when the doorbell rang.
Notice that the past continuous describes ‘situations’ that go on for some time – ‘skiing’ and ‘playing’ but the past simple describes ‘actions’ that happen quickly – ‘broke’ and ‘rang’.
請注意，過去進行時態描述的是能持續進行一段時間的“情況”，這裏的skiing和playing是一般過去時描述的很快發生的“動作”。
Notice too the important difference between these two sentences.
還請注意一下兩個句子的重要區別。
• When they arrived, Jeff was cooking dinner. Jeff started cooking before they arrived.
• When they arrived, Jeff cooked dinner. Jeff started cooking dinner after they arrived.
