A skeleton in the cupboard
原文
Lesson 24
A skeleton in the cupboard
Who was Sebastian?
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.'
译文
第24课
柜中骷髅（比喻不可告人的秘密）
塞巴斯蒂安是谁？
我们在小说中经常看到这样的情节：一个表面上看起来很体面、值得尊敬的人……
或者这个家庭隐藏着一个可怕的秘密，这个秘密多年来一直被对外人隐瞒着。
英语中有一句非常生动的表达，用来形容这种情况。
这个可怕的秘密就叫“柜中骷髅”。
在故事中的某个关键时刻，那个可怕的秘密被揭露了，从而导致一个人的声誉彻底毁掉。
当读者读到小说最后几页，发现女主角……
一位一直对所有人都非常友善的善良老妇人，在她年轻时，竟然毒死了她的五位丈夫。
这种事发生在小说里倒也罢了。
在某种程度上，我们每个人都有自己不想让最亲密的朋友知道的秘密。
但我们中很少有人真有“柜中骷髅”。
我认识的唯一有“柜中骷髅”的人是乔治·卡尔顿，而且他还对此引以为豪。
乔治年轻时学习过医学。
然而，他并没有成为医生，而是成为了一名成功的侦探小说作家。
我曾在他的家里度过了一个极其不愉快的周末，那个经历我永远都不会忘记。
乔治带我去了客房，他说这个房间很少有人使用。
他让我先把行李收拾好，然后再下来吃晚饭。
我把衬衫和内衣整理好后，放进了两个空抽屉里；接着，我决定把带来的两套西装中的一套挂在衣柜里。
我打开了橱柜的门，然后站在那里，吓得动弹不得。
一具骷髅悬挂在我的眼前。
门的突然晃动让它也跟着摇摆起来，给我的感觉是它好像要朝我扑过来似的。
我立刻放下西装，冲下楼去告诉乔治。
这比“一个可怕的秘密”还要糟糕；那简直是一具真正的骷髅！
但乔治却毫无同情之心。
“哦，那个啊，”他笑着说，仿佛在谈论一个老朋友一样，
“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了，我曾经也是一名医学生。”