Длительные времена: be + -ing

Форма be с глаголом на -ing показывает действие в самом его ходе: «как раз делал», «сейчас делает». По-русски это несовершенный вид.

Примеры

• was copying letters 1.4переписывал письма
• candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices 1.4свечи пылали в окнах соседних контор
• You are not looking at it 1.20Ты на неё не смотришь
• some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes 1.10какие-то рабочие чинили газовые трубы
• whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge 1.10чей хриплый старый колокол вечно украдкой поглядывал вниз на Скруджа

В тексте 55

• I.4 but it was quite dark already—it had not been light all day—and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.Длительное прошедшее: фон, на котором идёт действие. flare — гореть ярким, неровным, мечущимся пламенем.
• I.4 To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
• I.4 The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters.Длительное прошедшее: занятие, за которым клерка застаёт рассказ. copy — «переписывать»: клерк от руки снимает копии с деловых писем.
• I.9 “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.
• I.10 The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the wall, became invisible,Длительное время с always — постоянная привычка: «вечно подглядывал». peep — «глядеть украдкой, в щёлку». Колокол описан как живое существо, которое следит за Скруджем сверху. slily — старое написание slyly.
• I.10 and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there.
• I.10 In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier,
• I.15 Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall.Past Continuous, was + форма на -ing: халат висел всё то время, пока Скрудж осматривал комнату. hang up — «висеть (или вешать) на крючке».
• I.17 They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine-merchant’s cellar.
• I.20 “You are not looking at it,” said Scrooge.
• I.22 “And travelling all the time!”Продолжение той же неполной фразы: (and you have been) travelling, «и всё это время в пути». Британское написание с двумя l; в Америке traveling.
• II.1 He was endeavouring to pierce the darkness with his ferret eyes, when the chimes of a neighbouring church struck the four quarters.Длительное время рисует действие, посреди которого случилось другое: «он силился…, когда (как вдруг) куранты пробили». endeavour — книжное «стараться, прилагать усилия»; британское написание с -our.
• II.3 as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.
• II.6 “Your lip is trembling,” said the Ghost.
• II.8 At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire;Past Continuous: действие длилось в ту минуту, когда они вошли. «Сидел и читал».
• II.9 The man thought he was dreaming, but he wasn’t.
• II.10 He was not reading now, but walking up and down despairingly.Past Continuous рисует картину, которую застаёт Скрудж: «не читал, а ходил». Вспомогательное was сказано один раз и относится к обоим причастиям. not … but — «не …, а».
• II.10 He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was going to bed,Здесь was going в прямом смысле: «шла спать», а не «собиралась». go to bed — «ложиться спать»; bed без артикля.
• II.16 and became conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear.
• II.16 The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig:
• II.21 and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty.
• II.23 Scrooge observed that its light was burning high and bright;Past Continuous по согласованию времён: по-русски «заметил, что свет горит». bright после burn и shine употребляется как наречие, без -ly.
• III.4 I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now.learn a lesson — «получить урок, сделать вывод». learnt — британская форма прошедшего времени рядом с learned. is working — «действует» (как лекарство): урок продолжает делать своё дело в эту самую минуту.
• III.5 as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts’ content.
• III.6 For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee;
• III.8 where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too.
• III.11 “Not coming,” said Mrs. Cratchit.
• III.11 “Not coming!” said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits;
• III.11 “Not coming upon Christmas Day!”
• III.12 Bob’s voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty.
• III.18 as if he were deliberating what particular investments he should favour when he came into the receipt of that bewildering income.
• III.19 By this time it was getting dark, and snowing pretty heavily;
• III.19 There all the children of the house were running out into the snow to meet their married sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts, and be the first to greet them.
• III.21 was singing them a Christmas song—it had been a very old song when he was a boy—and from time to time they all joined in the chorus.Past Continuous: старик пел в ту минуту, когда они вошли.
• III.29 for wholly forgetting in the interest he had in what was going on, that his voice made no sound in their ears,
• III.30 The brisk fire of questioning to which he was exposed, elicited from him that he was thinking of an animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal,
• III.32 Hark! The time is drawing near.”
• III.32 The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment.
• IV.2 The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know.
• IV.5 for he had been revolving in his mind a change of life, and thought and hoped he saw his new-born resolutions carried out in this.
• IV.5 he fancied from the turn of the hand, and its situation in reference to himself, that the Unseen Eyes were looking at him keenly.
• IV.6 Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a charcoal stove, made of old bricks, was a grey-haired rascal, nearly seventy years of age;
• IV.8 We know pretty well that we were helping ourselves, before we met here, I believe.
• IV.12 A cat was tearing at the door, and there was a sound of gnawing rats beneath the hearth-stone.Длительное время: это происходило в ту самую минуту. tear at — «драть когтями»: at показывает, что действие направлено на предмет, но не доведено до конца. tear здесь читается /teə/.
• IV.13 She was expecting some one, and with anxious eagerness;Past Continuous: действие длилось в тот момент, когда Скрудж заглянул в комнату. expect — «ждать» того, кто должен прийти, а не просто «ожидать, предполагать».
• IV.14 He was not only very ill, but dying, then.”
• IV.18 “And then,” cried one of the girls, “Peter will be keeping company with some one, and setting up for himself.”
• V.1 He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.
• V.2 He had frisked into the sitting-room, and was now standing there: perfectly winded.
• V.3 Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?—Not the little prize Turkey: the big one?”
• V.3 “It’s hanging there now,” replied the boy.
• V.5 The people were by this time pouring forth, as he had seen them with the Ghost of Christmas Present;
• V.7 They were looking at the table (which was spread out in great array);
• V.8 He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o’clock.
• V.8 I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.”