I was about to + (verb)我正要去看电视

When stating 'I was about to' you are informing someone that you were going to do something, but another event prevented you from doing it. It is similar to 'I am about to' but the difference is that you will not do it any longer. Since you will not do it any longer, it becomes a past event. That is why we use 'was' instead of 'am'

当提到'I was about to'的时候，是说你告诉别人你要做什么，但另一件事阻止了你，这类似于'I am about to'，但不同的是，你不会再这样做，因为你不会再这样做，它变成了一个过去的事件，这就是为什么我们使用'was'而不是'am'。

Here is an example conversionsation to help you understand.

这里有一个对话的例子来帮助你理解。

A: Hi Mike. I need to ask you a favor. 你好，Mike，我想请你帮个忙。

B: Hey Bob. What do you need? 嘿，鲍勃，你需要什么？

A: Can you drive me to the convenient store? My car is in the shop and we really need to get milk. 你可以开车带我去便利店吗？我的车在修理店并且我们真的需要买牛奶

B: Sure. I can do that. 当然了，我可以带你去。

A: Were you in the middle of something? I don't want to bother you. 你现在是在忙吗？我不想打扰你。

B: I was about to watch a movie, but that can wait. 我正要去看电影，但那可以等一下。

In this case, he cannot say, "I am about to watch a movie" because he will not be watching it because he has to drive his friend. You use "I was about to" when you will not be doing something immediately because of some other event.

在这种情况下，他就不可以说"I am about to watch a movie"，因为他不会去看电影，他必须要开车带他朋友，你用"I was about to"当你因为其他事情而不能马上做一些事情的时候。

Here are some examples: 这里有一些例子：

"I was about to go out."

我正要出去。