【题目】What a pity! A few minutes earlier, the students ___ the first bus.
A.had caught
B.were to caught
C.have caught
D.could have caught

【答案】D
【解析】句意：多遗憾啊！再早几分钟，学生们就能够赶上早班公交车了。根据语境，学生们没能赶上早班车，“学生们赶上早班车”是与过去事实相反的事实，应用与过去事实相反的虚拟语气的主句谓语动词结构，would/could/might + have + 过去分词。根据题意可知选D项。