为什么第9用were不用are,代表过去式吗?

为什么第9用were不用are,代表过去式吗?
When you read a story in English,do you read it for the story    1        for the English?This is a question    2         is not so    3        (fool) as it may seem,for I find that many students of English pay far more attention to the story than to the English.For instance,they care for how the mystery in the story         4          (solve),but do not remember a single sentence in the story and cannot tell what preposition is used before a certain word in the speech of a certain character.
Of course,if you want to know the story only,you need not    5      (bother) about the language.But a student of English is different    6         a student of stories or   7        is called the general reader.As you may also have learned from the above,you ought to read not only very carefully but also aloud           8           you learn the passage by heart and can recite it as if it    9      (be) your own.On    10       hand,this will teach you many useful words and phrases; on the other hand,it will help you to avoid many errors and faults in expression.