---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/24-a-skeleton-in-the-cupboard.md
description: 新概念英语第三册：A Skeleton in the Cupboard “。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 24 · “家丑”

### 第1段

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 made 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 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."

中文理解：小说里常写到：一个表面体面的人或家庭，竟藏着一个多年不为外人所知的可怕秘密。英语有个生动的说法形容这种情况，叫作“衣柜里的骷髅”，也就是不可告人的家丑。故事发展到某个戏剧性的时刻，秘密突然曝光，名誉随之扫地。读者翻到小说最后几页，才知道那位一向待人和善、令人喜爱的老太太，年轻时竟先后毒死了自己的五个丈夫，难免读得毛骨悚然。
这种事出现在小说里，倒也无妨。我们每个人多少都有些连最亲近的朋友也不愿告诉的秘密，但真正藏着这种“家丑”的人毕竟不多。我认识的人里，只有乔治·卡尔顿的衣柜里有一具骷髅，而他还颇以此为荣。乔治年轻时学过医，后来却没有当医生，而是成了一位很成功的侦探小说家。我曾在他家度过一个令人难忘、又颇不自在的周末。乔治领我到客房，说那里很少有人住，让我先收拾好行李，再下楼吃饭。我把衬衫和内衣叠进两个空抽屉后，打算把带来的两套西装中的一套挂进衣柜。柜门一打开，我就僵在原地：一具骷髅悬在眼前！开门的动作使它轻轻晃动，看起来仿佛就要扑向我。我扔下西装，冲下楼告诉乔治。这可比什么“可怕的秘密”吓人多了，柜里是真有一具骷髅啊！乔治却毫不同情。“哦，你说那个啊，”他笑着说，语气仿佛在说一位老朋友，“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了，我从前是学医的。”

* **a vivid saying**：一句形象生动的俗语；a saying 表流传的说法，vivid 强调有画面感。

* **a reputation is ruined**：名誉毁于一旦；ruin a reputation 强调严重损害，不把 reputation 简化为名气。

* **stands on end**：竖起来；毛骨悚然；one's hair stands on end 是恐惧反应，不逐字理解为发型。

* **To varying degrees**：程度不同地；承认差异，避免把所有人一概而论。

* **proud of**：为……自豪；of后接人、事物或动名词，不直接接动词原形。

* **in his youth**：在他年轻时；youth 在此是一段时期，用 in；可换成 in my youth。

* **Instead of**：代替；而不是；表示实际选了什么、没有选什么；介词 of 后做某事用 -ing。

* **showed me to**：把我领到……；show + 人 + to + 地点，不是只指着地点给人看。

* **two empty drawers**：两个空抽屉；drawer 为家具的抽屉；put / stack clothes in a drawer 可成组迁移。

* **in front of**：在……前面；与behind相对；别少掉of。

* **was about to**：正要……；be about to do… when… 常用于即将行动时出现意外。

* **a terrible secret**：一个可怕的秘密；keep / conceal / reveal a secret，分别是保守、隐瞒、揭露。

* **as if**：仿佛；好像；是否用过去形式要看真实程度和时间，不是一律虚拟。

* **once upon a time**：很久以前；从前；可作故事开头；本课说话者略带轻松地提起自己的过去。

#### 原文注释 · We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years.

注释：①seemingly = apparently。②concealed = hidden。③vivid saying = a memorable expression。④reputation = a good name。⑤ruined = destroyed。

#### 原文注释 · It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.

注释：①fiction = invented stories。 ②To varying degrees = sometimes more, sometimes less。

#### Summary 摘要

The writer started to unpack and put his shirts and underclothes into drawers and then decided to hang a suit in the cupboard. He opened the cupboard and stood petrified: there, dangling in front of him, was a skeleton. It was swaying and ready to leap out at him. He dropped his suit and dashed downstairs to tell George. George was unsympathetic and told the writer it was Sebastian, a skeleton he had when he was a medical student. (79 words)

#### Composition 作文 A Weekend With Sebastian 与骷髅共处的周末

\[1]Now that George had explained about the skeleton, I felt better, but I still didn't want to sleep in the room with a skeleton hanging in the cupboard. I asked George to remove him, but he refused. "There's nowhere else to put him," said George, "so he'll have to stay."

\[2]I couldn't disagree of course, but the moment I lay down to sleep, I knew it was going to be an uncomfortable night. In the end, I decided that I would take Sebastian somewhere for the night and bring him back up to my room early in the morning. So I took him out of cupboard and walked around the house with him trying to find somewhere to put him.

\[3]George's maid was just going to bed as I walked along the landing. She saw Sebastian apparently walking around, screamed and fainted. She had obviously woken Carlton who appeared from his bedroom and, when the girl had regained consciousness, explained everything to her. He accused me of being stupid and sent me and Sebastian back to "our" room where I hung him up in the cupboard again.

\[4]Imagine my surprise when I picked up one of Carlton's detective stories two years later. There I was, with Sebastian the skeleton, as the main characters in one of his stories for the whole world to read. Still, he didn't use my real name, so I should be glad of that! (240 words)

## 学完这一课

用 a secret which… 写一个为后文揭晓埋下的线索。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第82—84页，2022年2月第3版。*