Question

Mr. Smith let off upon me the speech he_______ to make all along.

A. had died     B. died

C. was dying    D. had been dying

Answer

D

【解析】句意：史密斯先生向我不断练习一个他一直就渴望做的演讲。本句正常语序是：Mr. Smith let off the speech…upon me。Let off本意是：开枪，这里引申为“不断练习”，upon表示说话的对像。看四个选项，可以断定这是考查时态。考查时态，一看时态标志词，二看动作的先后顺序。时态标志词all along，这是进行时的标志，一般还有the whole day/night, all the ime等；let off动作发生在过去。先后顺序：先准备演讲die to make the speech，然后是let off的过去的动作，所以die to这个动作是发生在过去的过去，应用过去完成进行时。be dying to do sth非常渴望做某事。故判断选D。