请教曹老师：

My old friend, Harrison, had lived in the Mediterranean for many years before he returned to England.He had often dreamed of retiring in England and had planned to settle down in the country.He had no sooner returned than he bought a house and went to live there. Almost immediately he began to complain about the weather, for even though it was still summer, it rained continually and it was often bitterly cold. After so many years of sunshine, Harrison got a shock. He acted as if he had never lived in England before. In the end, it was more than he could bear. He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the country. The dream he had had for so many years ended there. Harrison had thought of everything except the weather.

1）had planned to settle down - 课文中正确意思是：原计划或本来计划定居（暗含着：后来没有成功= 一般过去时planned to have settled down 吗？），还是仅仅表达了过去计划定居，而不含有后来没有成功这一含义？

2）even though - 有的书上翻译成了即使/哪怕，有的书上却又翻译成了虽然，尽管，从中文的角度，二者含义是完全不一样的。因为即使=哪怕=假设含义，虽然=尽管=承认事实。我被搞得糊里糊涂的。

     请教老师，even though = even if 究竟是“即使=哪怕” 还是“虽然=尽管” - 究竟哪一个意思？

3）这里的as if he had never lived - 从形式上看，这里看得出是陈述语气，还是虚拟语气吗？还是要从句意上来分辨呢？我认为仅从动词形式上，是看不出来是何种语气的！

4）这里的hardly...when 按照字面意思翻译：刚有时间安顿下来，他就卖了房子离开这个国家。 - 显然很不通顺？反之，理解成：还没安顿下来...这样才通顺。

     那么，为何很多书上说hardly...when的意思是：一...就... = no sooner...than...呢？应该是：还没...就...呀！？很困惑不解。