【課文】
We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years. The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation. The terrible secret is called "a skeleton in the cupboard". At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined. 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.
It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction. 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. The only person I know who has a skeleton in the cupboard is George Carlton, and he is very proud of the fact. George studied medicine in his youth. Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories. I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shall never forget at his house. George showed me to the guestroom which, he said, was rarely used. He told me to unpack my things and then come down to dinner. After I had stacked my shirts and underclothes in two empty drawers, I decided to hang one of the two suits I had brought with me in the cupboard. I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified. A skeleton was dangling before my eyes. The sudden movement of the door make it sway slightly and it gave me the impression that it was about to leap out at me. Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George. This was worse than‘a(chǎn) terrible secret; this was a real skeleton! But George was unsympathetic. ‘Oh, that,’he said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend. ‘That’s Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.’
【課文翻譯】
在小說中，我們經(jīng)常讀到一個(gè)表面上受人尊重的人物或家庭，卻有著某種多年不為人所知的駭人聽聞的秘密。英語中有一個(gè)生動的說法來形容這種情況。驚人的秘密稱作 “柜中骷髏 ”。在小說的某個(gè)戲劇性時(shí)刻，可怕的秘密泄漏出來，接著便是某人的聲譽(yù)掃地。當(dāng)讀者到小說后幾頁了解到書中女主人公，那位一向待大家很好的可愛的老婦人年輕時(shí)一連毒死了她的 5個(gè)丈夫時(shí)，不禁會毛骨悚然。
這種事發(fā)生在小說中是無可非議的。盡管我們?nèi)巳硕加懈鞣N大小秘密。連親密的朋友都不愿讓他們知道，但我們當(dāng)中極少有人有柜中骷髏。我所認(rèn)識的的在柜中藏骷嶁的人便是喬治 .卡爾頓，他甚至引以為自豪。喬治年輕時(shí)學(xué)過醫(yī)，然而，他后來沒當(dāng)上醫(yī)生，卻成了一位成功的偵探小說作家。有，我在他家里度周末，過得很不愉快。這事我永遠(yuǎn)不會忘記。喬治把我領(lǐng)進(jìn)客房，說這間很少使用。他讓我打開行裝后下樓吃飯。我將襯衫、內(nèi)衣放進(jìn)兩個(gè)空抽屜里，然后我想把隨身帶來的兩套西服中的一套掛到大衣柜里去。我打開柜門，站在柜門前一下驚呆了。一具骷髏懸掛在眼前，由于柜門突然打開，它也隨之輕微搖晃起來，讓我覺得它好像馬上要跳出柜門朝我撲過來似的。我扔下西服沖下樓去告訴喬治。這是比 “駭人聽聞的秘密 ”更加驚人的東西，這是一具真正的骷髏啊!但喬治卻無動于衷。 “噢，是它呀!他笑著說道，儼然在談?wù)撘晃焕吓笥选?“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是學(xué)醫(yī)的了?！? 【生詞和短語】
skeleton n. 骷髏
seemingly adv. 表面上地
respectable adj. 受人尊重的
conceal v. 隱藏
vivid adj. 生動的
dramatic adj. 扣人心弦的
ruin v. 毀壞(名譽(yù)等)，使破產(chǎn)
heroine n. 女主人公
fiction n. 小說
varying adj. 不同的
medicine n. 醫(yī)學(xué)
guestroom n. 客房
unpack v. 取出
stack v.(整齊地)堆放
underclothes n. 內(nèi)衣
drawer n. 抽屜
petrify v. 使驚呆
dangle v. 懸掛
sway v. 搖擺
unsympathetic adj. 無動于衷的
medical adj. 醫(yī)學(xué)的
【知識點(diǎn)】
詞匯
【seemingly】
構(gòu)詞：seem→seeming→seemingly
例句：
1. The studies also show that many seemingly "purebred" ethnic groups have ancestry traceable to more than one continent.
研究也顯示許多看來“純種”的民族其祖先起源自不止一個(gè)大陸。
2. For a long time, scientists and curators have wondered how da Vinci created shadows on her face with seemingly no brush strokes or contours.
一直以來，科學(xué)家和管理人員都對達(dá)·芬奇陰影的描繪方法十分好奇，因?yàn)樗樕蠋缀鯖]有筆法和輪廓線的痕跡。
【respectable】
構(gòu)詞：respect→respectable
例句：
1. To learn from afar about a key region and its people is a respectable pursuit.
遠(yuǎn)距離了解一個(gè)重要地區(qū)及其人民，是一種可敬的追求。
2. At twenty-one he took his degree-a respectable degree, but not a very high one.
二十一歲他獲得了一個(gè)不很高，但也令人欽羨的學(xué)位。
【conceal】
英英：prevent from being seen or discovered
例句：
1. Players may conceal their assets from each other.
玩家應(yīng)該隱瞞自己的資產(chǎn)金額。
2. He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.
他試圖飾蓋自己對這一想法本能的厭惡。
3. He hated her straightforwardly, making no effort to conceal it.
他十分坦率地恨她，從不設(shè)法加以掩飾。
【vivid】
例句：
1. Imagination is sometimes more vivid than reality.
想象有時(shí)候比現(xiàn)實(shí)更栩栩如生。
2. He sketched the situation in a few vivid words.
他用幾句生動的語言簡述了局勢。
【dramatic】
構(gòu)詞：drama→dramatic
例句：
1. This year may bring more dramatic change.
今年這種變化可能更富戲劇性。
2. While a prism can make a dramatic rainbow, atmospheric refraction isn't that
strong.
棱柱可以產(chǎn)生漂亮的彩虹，但是大氣的折射程度沒那么厲害。
【ruin】
英英：destroy or cause to fail
例句：
1. Customers always find a way to ruin my day.
顧客總是有辦法使我的一天玩完!
2. Odd behavior isn't the only way to ruin your chances of landing a job.
古怪的行為并不是破壞你得到一份工作機(jī)會的途徑。
3. Many people ruin their summer fun by falling prey to the hazards of hot weather.
許多人深受炎熱天氣的折磨，白白浪費(fèi)了本應(yīng)充滿歡樂的夏天。
【varying】
構(gòu)詞：vary→varying
例句：
1. Dimly, in varying degrees, these Venetians reveal an uneasiness, a vague discontent, an unexplained sense of something wrong.
隱約地以不同程度，這些威尼斯人及貝蠻人表現(xiàn)出一種不安、種模糊的不滿、種無法解釋的不對逕。
2. Parents may set up varying levels of reward and punishment depending on a child's physical and mental capacity to avoid hurting him and his ego.
家長可制定不同程度的獎懲規(guī)則，在懲罰上也要先考慮孩子的體力和精神上是否能承受，以免造成孩子身心上的傷害。
【petrify】
英英：cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned
例句：
1. The bird was petrified as the snake came near.
當(dāng)蛇爬近時(shí),鳥兒驚呆了。
2. Just the thought of making a speech petrifies me.
一想到要作講演就把我嚇壞了。
【dangle】
英英：hang freely
例句：
1. His great arms dangle loosely at his sides, the palms of his hands open.
他的一雙粗大的胳膊軟綿綿地垂在身子兩旁，手張開著。
2. This is a hammock station. You can dangle to wait for the arrival of public
transportation.
吊床車站，你可以晃晃悠悠地等待公交的到來。
3. Squirrels can run wires, hop branches and dangle from swinging tree limbs without a second thought.
松鼠們能在金屬絲上奔跑，能在樹枝上跳躍，還能不加思索地在樹上蕩秋千。
【unsympathetic】
構(gòu)詞：sympathy→sympathetic→unsympathetic
例句：
1. British law is broadly unsympathetic to such notions.
英國法律通常不贊成這些主張。
2. He dismissed the event with a most unsympathetic shrug.
他無所謂地聳聳肩就把這件事情打發(fā)了。
搭配
【stand on end】
【to varying degrees】
【give the impression】
【once upon a time】