新概念英语3--（一天学一篇）---课24

ltlong52010

课文24  “家丑”
5 _, V7 v9 Y% l$ r) M. _2 J, t417. We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years.
3 Y( C: E5 }( y) ]- v        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。
418. The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation.
  H! F0 \. l( k* X        英语中有一个生动的说法来形容这种情况。
419. The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton in the cupboard'.
9 R6 t) Z! c# F5 T9 J0 l3 j: u4 _        惊人的秘密称作“柜中骷髅”。
6 v) T8 u1 n2 |. e420. 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。
4 _0 {6 k) G2 U1 f$ @9 t3 p1 X421. 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.
7 {+ k; b$ N1 V7 v, m0 i2 ^; V        当读者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。
422. It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
! G) T3 v7 E& r' t; `+ x( n        这种事发生在小说中是无可非议的。
423. 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.
9 S- i* }/ M8 d1 u2 V        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。
# Y5 Z0 |) k) Q# M424. 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。
425. 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。
: P5 E# Q& m% m; Q: b) l. g$ p. ^426. 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。
: {+ F6 p. g3 T427. 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。
428. He told me to unpack my things and then come down to dinner.
$ ?, `: ^  b, S" J7 I  Z& ^* r% Z+ S        他让我打开行装后下楼吃饭。
429. After I had stacked my shirts and underclothes in two empty drawers,
" p; N: Z9 n% o6 C# a- V8 h        我将衬衫、内衣放进两个空抽屉里，
( ?+ T9 E) @/ e7 R% V/ D430. I decided to hang one of the two suits I had brought with me in the cupboard.
' J% Y: d, p6 p) l7 J; O! R" o, [        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。
" Q( N% a+ n# T431. I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified.
        我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下惊呆了。
! o  Y) T# J; ^432. A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.
3 J0 q* [/ ]0 U7 B9 E( x        一具骷髅悬挂在眼前，
433. 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。
434. Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George.
        我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。
/ `1 J6 [7 {2 j- R435. This was worse than 'a terrible secret'; this was a real skeleton!
% C% {$ s4 }+ @. ]$ m0 ]/ y        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！
436. 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。
437. That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.