书上例句：My father has had a hard life and it's time he eased off a bit.

在It's (high) time (that)后面的宾语从句中,其谓语通常用动词的过去式或should +动词原形,表示说话人觉得某事可以做,或者要求它发生但不是客观存在的事实,是对将来的情况的虚拟.
如：
It's time that you went over the whole book.
或 It's time that you should go over the whole book.should +动词原形是虚拟，这过去式是虚拟么？怎么理解呢？也是虚拟，表示“现在某人该做某事了”。含有该事早该去做而未做，现在去做似乎都为时已晚的意思。