家丑”
课文学习台
A Skeleton in the Cupboard “
把人物、线索、转折和结果组织成连贯叙述，理解句子里的修饰层次。
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本课原文与译文
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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.
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，却藏着某种多年不为人所知的骇人听闻的秘密。英语中有一个生动的说法来形容这种情况。惊人的秘密称作“柜中骷髅”。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。当读者读到小说最后几页，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。
第2段
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."
这种事写在小说里，倒也无妨。在某种程度上可以说我们都有各种秘密，哪怕是最亲密的朋友也不愿让他们知道，但我们当中极少有人柜中藏着骷髅。我认识的唯一一个便是乔治·卡尔顿，他甚至引以为豪。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家。有一次，我在他家里过周末，过得很不愉快。这事我永远不会忘记。乔治把我领进客房，说这间房很少使用。他让我放好行李后下楼吃饭。我将衬衫、内衣放进两个空抽屉里，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。我站在柜子前一开门，我惊呆了。一具骷髅悬挂在眼前，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。我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。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！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。“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是学医的吗。”
学完这一课
保留原段的推进关系，换成自己的经历，写或说一段四五句的话。
译文与解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；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。