曾经

有人曾经认为铅可以变成黄金。

It was once thought that lead could be transmuted into gold .

人们曾经认为太阳绕着地球转。

It was once thought that the sun travelled around the earth .

曾经时兴把牛仔裤磨毛。

It was fashionable to fray the bottoms of your jeans .

政治曾经是有产阶级的特权。

Politics used to be the perquisite of the property-owning classes .

曾经有个时期，罪犯可以被判服劳役刑。

Criminals could at one time be sentenced to penal servitude .

教堂的尖塔曾经是此地景观的重要特色。

The church tower was a prominent feature in the landscape .

曾经有过加深一段河道的计划。

There were plans to deepen a stretch of the river .

曾经发生过什么事已经都不重要了。

What might have happened is neither here nor there .

他们的每一张激光唱片都曾经非常流行。

Every one of their CDs has been a hit .

她曾经悉心思考她未来的计划。

She has thought very hard about her future plans .

她曾经暗恋了他好多年。

She had loved him at a distance for years .

这个村子曾经被称为现代版的邪恶之城所多玛和蛾摩拉城。

The village had a reputation as a latter-day Sodom and Gomorrah .

她曾经对这个问题深深思考过。

She had thought very deeply about this problem .

有些地方气温曾经超过40摄氏度。

Some places have had temperatures in the 40s .

有些曾经随处可见的鸟类现在日益稀少。

Some birds which were once a common sight are now becoming rare .

谁都知道，我曾经努力想教她。

Lord knows , I tried to teach her .

我的祖父曾经在西班牙与法西斯分子作战。

My grandfather fought against the Fascists in Spain .

人们曾经认为地球是平的。

People used to think the earth was flat .

伊泽贝尔，就是他的兄弟，以前曾经听说过这个笑话。

Isobel , whose brother he was , had heard the joke before .

曾经作出承诺，时机一成熟就进行改革。

Reforms were promised when the time was ripe .

我想不起来以前曾经见过她。

I can 't recall meeting her before .

我曾经在伦敦居住过。

I used to live in London .

我们曾经患难与共，现在依然是好友。

We 'd been to hell and back together and we were still good friends .

她已有三张唱片曾经名列周销售量排行榜榜首。

She 's had three number ones .

这事我曾经说过，而且是说过很多次了。

If I 've said it once , I 've said it a hundred times .

我曾经见过你母亲。

I once met your mother .

他小时候曾经以为，只要有足够决心，想要飞就能飞起来。

As a child he had thought he could fly , if he willed it enough .

他的出名主要是因为他曾经是首相的中学同学。

His main claim to fame is that he went to school with the Prime Minister .

自从她的小说获得成功之后，曾经懒得答理她的人也跟她握起手来。

Since the success of her novel , people shake her hand who once wouldn 't have given her the time of day .

这本季刊曾经是进行颇有见地的学术讨论的论坛。

The quarterly had been a forum for sound academic debate .