分类：教育/科学-外语学习-英语考试
问题：为何使用过去完成时态？新概念第24课Weoftenreadinn 
第24课We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years. The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation. The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton i第24课We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years. The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation. The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton in the cupboard '. At some dramatic moment in the story the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined. The reader's hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of thenovel that the heroine, a dear old lady who had always been so kindto everybody,  had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands请问文单开始处用一般现在时态，而 a dear old lady who had always been so kindto everybody,  had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands 为何使用过去完成时态呢？谢谢！
回答：的确，本文开始处用一般现在时态描写，但是当文章说"when he reads in the final pages of the novel...",显然“the novel"是在本文作者写本文以前写的，而 a dear old lady "一贯友善"以及“毒害五夫”的事情又都在（the novel的作者过去）写the novel之前已经发生了，因此"had always been so kind"和“had, in her youth, poisoned..."均需用过去完成时态。