新概念英语美音版第三册:Lesson 24 A skeleton in the cupboard

Lesson 24 A skeleton in the cupboard
“家丑”
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
Who was Sebastian?
We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years.
在小说中，我们经常读到一个表面上受人尊重的人物或家庭，却有着某种多年不为人所知的骇人听闻的秘密。
The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation.
英语中有一个生动的说法来形容这种情况。
The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton in the cupboard'.
惊人的秘密称作“柜中骷髅”。
At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined.
在小说的某个戏剧性时刻，可怕的秘密泄漏出来，接着便是某人的声誉扫地。
The reader's hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine, a dear old lady who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
当读者读到小说最后几页了解到书中女主人公，那位一向待大家很好的可爱的老妇人年轻时一连毒死了她的5个丈夫时，不禁会毛骨悚然。
It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
这种事发生在小说中是无可非议的。
To varying degrees, we all have secrets which we do not want even our closest friends to learn, but few of us have skeletons in the cupboard.
尽管我们人人都有各种大小秘密。连最亲密的朋友都不愿让他们知道，但我们当中极少有人有柜中骷髅。
The only person I know who has a skeleton in the cupboard is George Carlton, and he is very proud of the fact.
我所认识的唯一的在柜中藏骷嵝的人便是乔治.卡尔顿，他甚至引以为自豪。
George studied medicine in his youth. Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories.
乔治年轻时学过医，然而，他后来没当上医生，却成了一位成功的侦探小说作家。
I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shall never forget at his house.
有一次，我在他家里度周末，过得很不愉快。这事我永远不会忘记。
George showed me to the guestroom which, he said, was rarely used.
乔治把我领进客房，说这间很少使用。
He told me to unpack my things and then come down to dinner.
他让我打开行装后下楼吃饭。
After I had stacked my shirts and underclothes in two empty drawers,
我将衬衫、内衣放进两个空抽屉里，
I decided to hang one of the two suits I had brought with me in the cupboard.
然后我想把随身带来的两套西服中的一套挂到大衣柜里去。
I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified.
我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下子惊呆了。
A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.
一具骷髅悬挂在眼前，
The sudden movement of the door made it sway slightly and it gave me the impression that it was about to leap out at me.
由于柜门突然打开，它也随之轻微摇晃起来，让我觉得它好像马上要跳出柜门朝我扑过来似的。
Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George.
我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。
This was worse than 'a terrible secret'; this was a real skeleton!
这是比“骇人听闻的秘密”更加惊人的东西，这是一具真正的骷髅啊！
But George was unsympathetic. 'Oh, that,' he said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend.
但乔治却无动于衷。“噢，是它呀！他笑着说道，俨然在谈论一位老朋友。
'That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.'
“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是学医的了。”