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.
( ^( N- w: O3 g. R6 X) ~; r2 t        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。
8 N0 M2 P4 F5 y% t# B0 s418. 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'.
        惊人的秘密称作“柜中骷髅”。
# I0 F& J+ Y6 ^5 g5 @420. At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined.
1 v1 [  D  r# p5 ?& w7 }. b        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.
5 D! X% i. S" v, R        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.
        这种事发生在小说中是无可非议的。
% M  J" y9 I" ]1 b0 p, T423. 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。
3 Y7 P2 D8 I( \6 m9 N- a2 X424. 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。
: V; M( M* k1 A425. 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。
426. I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shall never forget at his house.
8 p3 k1 C2 Z& N( r& U6 s! a        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。
: P0 z& D' C% u! a4 h1 Q) n% H427. 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.
% N+ t8 T6 u5 J" {; R+ `  v- d        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,
        我将衬衫、内衣放进两个空抽屉里，
, Q: P6 f4 P  b' a: T* C. j5 ?6 D2 d430. I decided to hang one of the two suits I had brought with me in the cupboard.
6 r9 R' R3 U/ Z, K) d        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。
431. I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified.
5 M  c( D/ [) E. y  a) \1 N        我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下惊呆了。
1 z1 E" P8 T7 o432. A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.
  @( C* D) ^2 ^  A5 I        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。
: \, K7 o  u' B0 D/ m. T2 D434. Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George.
        我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。
435. This was worse than 'a terrible secret'; this was a real skeleton!
( s7 o# Q  T4 y& J: D, ^" U" l9 p        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.