一般过去时的用法:
①一般过去时的基本用法
a)表示过去某个特定时间发生的动作或存在的状态。
  He suddenly fell ill yesterday.
  昨天他突然生病了。
  The engine stopped because the fuel was used up.
  发动机因燃料用光而停机了。
b)表示过去经常发生的动作或存在的状态。
  I wrote home once a week at college.
  我上大学时每周给家里写一封信。
  He was already in the habit of reading widely in his boyhood.
  他童年时就养成了广泛阅读的习惯。
注:表示过去的习惯性动作,除了用过去时外,还可以用used to或would来表示。
  She used to study late into the night when she was in Senior Three.
  她上高三时经常学习到深夜。
  He would sit for hours doing nothing.
  过去他常常一坐几个钟头什么事也不做。
c)表示过去连续发生的一系列动作。
  She entered the room, picked up a magazine and looked through it carefully.
  她走进房间,拿起一本杂志,认真地翻阅了起来。
  The students go up early in the morning, did morning exercises and then read English aloud in the open air.
  学生们很早起床,做早操,然后在室外朗读英语。
d)在时间、条件状语从句中表示过去将要发生的动作。
  We would not leave until the teacher came back.
  老师回来我们才会离开。
  She told me she would not go if it rained the next day.
  她告诉我如果第二天下雨的话,她就不去了。