[00:00.34]Lesson 24
[00:02.44]A skeleton in the cupboard
[00:09.68]Who was Sebastian?
[00:11.87]We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person
[00:17.06]or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years.
[00:24.73]The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation.
[00:30.61]The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton in the cupboard'.
[00:35.69]At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined.
[00:43.08]The reader's hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine,
[00:49.34]a dear old lady who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
[00:59.79]It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
[01:04.47]To varying degrees, we all have secrets which we do not want even our closest friends to learn,
[01:11.76]but few of us have skeletons in the cupboard.
[01:15.50]The only person I know who has a skeleton in the cupboard is George Carlton, and he is very proud of the fact.
[01:23.87]George studied medicine in his youth.
[01:26.67]Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories.
[01:33.77]I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shall never forget at his house.
[01:39.38]George showed me to the guestroom which, he said, was rarely used.
[01:44.02]He told me to unpack my things and then come down to dinner.
[01:48.33]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.
[01:58.38]I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified.
[02:03.32]A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.
[02:07.06]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.
[02:15.32]Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George.
[02:20.40]This was worse than 'a terrible secret'; this was a real skeleton!
[02:25.85]But George was unsympathetic.
[02:28.42]'Oh, that,' he said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend.
[02:34.56]'That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.'
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。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。
这种事发生在小说中是无可非议的。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。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。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。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。乔治把我领进客房，说这间很少使用。他让我打开行装后下楼吃饭。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。我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下惊呆了。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啊！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了。”