when ¹³

当位于句末的 when 分句具有此种用法时，它前面的分句大致有三种情况：

A. when 分句前面的分句使用过去进行时：

1. He was still smiling when the door opened and his wife came in. 他正笑着的时候，门突然开了，他妻子走了进来。

2. I was thinking of this when I heard my name called. (许国璋《英语》，第二册，p.176) 我正想着这件事，突然听到有人叫我的名字。

3. He was going to throw the dish away when he noticed that the penicillium colony was surrounded by an area completely clear of the pathogenic bacteria. (CBSE) 他正想把这个碟子扔掉，这时他突然发现青霉素的周围完全没有病原菌了。

4. ... I happened to be walking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a stroll on some of my prize plants. (NCE 3, L. 23) 我碰巧在庭园里散步，突然看到许许多多的蜗牛正在一些我所喜欢的植物上爬动。

5. "I was lying on my back reading when I saw the snake. I knew that moving was out of ____." A. the bargain B. the question C. the chancel D. the risk(Nelson, 450A)

6. We were talking it over in my house one morning in early January when the phone rang. (B. Clinton, My Life) 1月的一天早上，我们两个人正在屋子里讨论这些问题的时候，电话铃响了。(《我的生活》)

7. The embassy's night operator was reading Time magazine's International Edition when the sound of her phone interrupted. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code) 大使馆的晚间接线员正在阅读国际版的《时代》杂志，忽然电话铃声响了起来。（《达·芬奇密码》）

8. I was sitting in geometry class on November 22, 1963, puzzling over one of Mr. Craddock's problems, when another teacher came to tell us President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. (Hillary, Living History) 1963年11月22日，我正在上几何课，思索着几何学老师克拉多克先生所出的一道难题，突然另一位老师走进教室，告诉大家肯尼迪总统在达拉斯遭人开枪暗杀了。

9. A couple of days later, I was coming down the steps to the ground floor of the law school when I saw Hillary again. (B. Clinton, My Life) 过了几天之后, 我走下法学院去一楼的楼梯时又见到了希拉里。(《我的生活》)

B. when 分句之前的分句用了 was(were) about to, was (were) on the point of:

1. We were about to start when it began to rain. 我们刚要出发,就开始下雨了。

2. He was on the point of leaving when someone knocked at the gate. 他刚要走，有人敲门。

3. 见 when $^{11}$ 例2。

C. when 分句之前的分句用了过去完成时或过去完成进行时：

1. New York editor Jonas Faukman had just climbed into bed for the night when the telephone rang. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code) 《纽约时报》编辑琼纳斯·福克曼刚爬上床，准备睡觉，电话铃就响了起来。（《达·芬奇密码》）

2. I had nearly reached the town, when the young man suddenly said, very slowly, 'Do you speak English?' (New Concept English, Book 2, L.14) 在快到达城镇时，那个年轻人突然慢慢地说：“你会说英语吗？”

3. The planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it began to rain. (New Concept English, Book 2, L. 62) 飞机播种了将近一个月才开始下雨。

4. We had been asleep for only a few hours when we heard a brisk knock on the bedroom door. (Hillary, Living History) 我们只睡了几小时，就听见急促的敲门声。（希拉里，《亲历历史》）