They would have reached the nursery in time had it not been that the little stars here watching them翻译哦,关键是那个had it not been
问题描述：
They would have reached the nursery in time had it not been that the little stars here watching them
翻译哦,关键是那个had it not been
答
楼上怎么可以这么翻译呢？不懂完全可以不说啊！这明明是讲过去的，直译意思是：如果不是那些小星星看着他们的话，他们应该会及时到达苗圃（或者幼儿园，都是这个词）。也就是说，他们没有及时到达苗圃。
（本人在美国十年了，英文应该问题不大，远远谈不上专家，绝对不会跟当地人说得一样好，但至少自信比国内大多数人的英语强一点）
答
他们必须在天黑之前赶到托儿所。
the little stars here watching them 是一个比喻，星星看着他们，就是天黑的意思
答
=if it had not been
虚拟语气中had 可以提前省略if表假设