A Skeleton in the Cupboard 橱柜里的骷髅

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 make 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.'

4.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。

语言点:英语中的被动语态在译成汉语时必须作出适当的调整，译为主动语态更符合汉语的逻辑和表达习惯，a reputation is ruined不可直译为“一个声誉被毁了”，而是“声誉扫地”。

5.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.

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。

语言点:句子结构分析:这是一个超长的复合句，主句为The reader's hair stands on end,when引导时间状语从句，其中又有一个由that引导的宾语从句，宾语从句中含有由who引导的定语从句，修饰lady。此外，a dear old lady作heroine的同位语，in her youth是插入语。

6.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。

语言点:句子结构分析:it充当形式主语，真正的主语是动词不定式短语to occur in fiction。此句可以还原为:To occur in fiction is all very well for such things.但还原后的句子头重脚轻，故使用it作形式主语，而将句子的真正主语移到后面。