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 valid saying to describe this sort of situation. The terrible secret is called ‘a skeleton in the cupboard’.
    我们在小说中经常见到表面上受人尊敬的人或家庭却在很多年里私下里隐瞒一些糟糕的秘密，不给生人知道。英语里有一种可以描述这种情况的说法。糟糕的秘密被称为“橱中骷髅”。
    PS：conceal A from B, 对B隐瞒A.
    PS++: a skeleton in the cupboard,俚语，译作“家丑”。

    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 everyone, had in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
    在一些故事戏剧般的片段中，这些糟糕的秘密露出来，玷污了某人的声誉。当读者读到某本小说的尾篇，女主角，一位对每个人都非常好的老太太在她年轻的时候毒杀了她的五个丈夫时，他们都会毛发耸立。
    The reader’s hair stands on end, 读者感到毛发耸立、毛骨悚然。

    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.
    还好这种事只存在于小说中。在不同程度上，我们都有连最亲的人都不愿透露的秘密，但鲜有人存有“橱中骷髅”。
    PS：To varying degrees，译作“在不同程度上”。

    The only person I know who has a skeletons 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.
    乔治·克尔顿是我唯一知道有“橱中骷髅”的人。乔治年轻时学习药学，但他并没有做医生，反而称为了一名出名的侦探小说作家。

    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.
    我曾在他家度过了一个难以忘怀的周末。乔治带我去看他很少用过的会客厅，并嘱咐我放下我的行装，准备吃饭。

    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.
    在我将衬衫和内衣放进两个空抽屉后，我想把我随身携带的两件大衣其中一件放在衣柜里。我打开衣柜的门，站在衣柜前，然后惊呆了。
    PS：此处”perified”做伴随状语，表示主语“惊呆了”。

    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.
    一具骷髅悬挂在我眼前。柜门突然的移动使得骷髅，它也随之轻微摇晃起来，让我觉得它好像要向我扑过来似的。我吓得丢下大衣，冲下楼去找乔治。
    PS：be about to，即将。

    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. ‘This is Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time’.
    这比“坏秘密”更糟糕！这可是真的骷髅！但是乔治却无动于衷。“哦，是他呀！”他笑着说道，好像在谈论一位老朋友。“他是塞巴斯蒂安.你忘了我以前是学医的了~”。
    PS：once upon a time，以前，曾经。