我们常常在小说里读到，某个表面上体面的人或家庭，有着某种可怕的秘密，多年来一直对外人隐瞒。
We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years.
英语有一句生动的俗语，用来描述这种情形。
The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation.
这个可怕的秘密被称为"衣柜里的骷髅"。
The terrible secret is called 'a skeleton in the cupboard'.
在故事的某个戏剧性时刻，这个可怕的秘密被揭露出来，一个人的名誉也随之毁于一旦。
At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined.
当读者在小说最后几页读到，那位一向对所有人都那么慈祥的可爱老太太——也就是女主人公——在她年轻时毒死了她的五任丈夫中的每一个，读者的毛骨就会悚然而立。
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.
这类事情发生在小说里当然无所谓。
It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
程度不一地，我们每个人都有一些不希望连最亲密的朋友都知道的秘密，但我们中很少有人真的有"衣柜里的骷髅"。
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.
我认识的唯一一个有"衣柜里的骷髅"的人是乔治·卡尔顿，而且他对此非常自豪。
The only person I know who has a skeleton in the cupboard is George Carlton, and he is very proud of the fact.
乔治年轻时学过医。
George studied medicine in his youth.
然而，他并没有成为一名医生，而是成了一名成功的侦探小说作家。
Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories.
我曾在他家度过了一个令人不舒服的、我永远不会忘记的周末。
I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shall never forget at his house.
乔治把我引到客房，他说那间客房很少使用。
George showed me to the guestroom which, he said, was rarely used.
他让我把行李打开收拾好，然后下来吃晚饭。
He told me to unpack my things and then come down to dinner.
在我把衬衫和内衣叠放进两个空抽屉之后，我决定把我带来的两套西装中的一套挂进衣柜里。
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.
我打开了衣柜门，然后呆立在它面前，被吓得石化了。
I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified.
一具骷髅在我眼前悠荡着。
A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.
门突然的晃动使骷髅微微摇摆，给了我一种它随时要向我扑来的感觉。
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.
我扔下西装，飞奔下楼去告诉乔治。
Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George.
这比"可怕的秘密"还糟糕；这是一具真正的骷髅！
This was worse than 'a terrible secret'; this was a real skeleton!
但乔治毫无同情之情。
But George was unsympathetic.
"哦，那个，"他微笑着说道，仿佛他在谈论一位老朋友。
'Oh, that,' he said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend.
"那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我曾经是个医学生。"
'That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.'