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.'

7.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。

语言点:句子结构分析:which引导定语从句，修饰secrets,说明是“什么样的秘密”。But连接两个转折关系的句子，引出下文。

8.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。

语言点:句子结构分析:person的后面接了两个定语从句，其中I know的前面省去了在从句中不充当任何成分的关系代词that。

9.George studied medicine in his youth.

乔治年轻时学过医。

语言点:句子结构分析:in his youth的意思是“在他年轻时”，在本句中充当时间状语。