新概念英语3--（一天学一篇）---课24

ltlong52010

课文24  “家丑”
417. 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。
- j" U  ]1 s5 S$ J4 ]! w5 j418. 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。
419. The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton in the cupboard'.
8 o+ |* j  l0 L+ B        惊人的秘密称作“柜中骷髅”。
420. At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined.
; o4 W# V% d5 t- u        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。
421. 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.
  U- K( ?( O9 m        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。
, t, C* P7 x3 @9 b6 m1 A1 q7 f422. It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
3 L2 J. T  |7 _3 Y        这种事发生在小说中是无可非议的。
5 |: _" V2 B/ A; d0 q5 `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.
2 F9 ^# I$ [4 C: m! ^  T+ J        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。
424. 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。
7 x& P7 {: P  j* K" ?0 V425. George studied medicine in his youth. Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories.
7 J! M. J- e* d/ {" o4 l7 a9 I        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。
9 v+ ?: H1 i' Z  ?2 q4 `426. I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shall never forget at his house.
* b) n9 U2 ^& t) V8 n        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。
; o! f: |, _; ]) I# a* s- j* A427. George showed me to the guestroom which, he said, was rarely used.
8 V& P1 c4 l& g. e$ B* {        乔治把我领进客房，说这间很少使用。
% D' u' E! U9 @2 e1 ^) q428. 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。
8 M; x6 h. r; [$ D429. 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，
430. 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。
; ?2 u. i2 ]+ f2 C431. I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified.
, L( i- ~2 Z6 y* {        我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下惊呆了。
432. A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.
. a# \/ w; L$ Q1 _* 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.
3 k3 s% ^' f6 S1 C! X8 d6 s        我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。
6 S4 a" T- ]4 i; P8 H4 B435. This was worse than 'a terrible secret'; this was a real skeleton!
; P, q. U1 W0 E4 k2 v  r3 b. M        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！
  }' X* Z4 l/ {436. But George was unsympathetic. 'Oh, that,' he said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend.
- Y) C5 X8 I( P# z  I, k        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。
5 ?* V5 F' P+ I+ ~- V* ~437. That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.