这段话 为什么都用的 过去完成时呢? "had asked,had lived"

Question

Over the years Lottie had asked Bess to prepare for her old age.Over the years Bess had lived each day as if there were no other.Now they were both past sixty.Lottie had a bank account that had never grown thin.Bess had the clothes on her back,and the rest of her worldly possessions in an old suitcase.

1、这段话 为什么都用的 过去完成时呢? "had asked,had lived"

Answer 1

第三句话Now这个句子是过去时态，前面两个句子是在这之前发生的事情，也就是过去的过去，所以是过去完成时态。
过去完成时态很好理解，你就记住，是过去的过去发生的事情对现在造成的影响或后果。

Answer 2

很多时候英文的小说都是以一般过去时为基准时态行文。上面这段话虽然可能并非小说，但也是叙述类型的题材，也是以一般过去时作为基准时态了【Now they were both past sixty.】，因此发生在这个时间之前的事件都需要使用过去完成时。