特别说明： 1.could用来表示请求时，语气委婉，主要用于疑问句，不能用于肯定句，答语应用can（即：could不能用于现在时态的简略答语中）。如： ——Could I use your dictionary? ——Yes, you can.(否定回答可用：No, I’m afraid not.或者是you can’t) 2.表示推测时，could不是过去式，只是语气更委婉；若是推测已发生的事或过去的情况，用can/could have done 3.can和be able to辨析 can (could) 和be able to都可以表示能力，意思上没有区别。但can只有现在式和过去式，而be able to则有更多的形式。如： I’ve always wanted to be able to speak fluent English. Those bags look really heavy, are you sure you’ll be able to carry them on your own? 但是，表示在过去某时的某一场合经过一番努力，终于做成了某事，通常不用could，而用was/were able to来表示。这时，was/were able to相当于managed to do或succeed in doing。如： After the accident it was a long time before she was able to walk again. The fire was very big, but most people were able to escape from the building.