Lily的Scalers Talk第八轮新概念朗读持续力训练Da

Lesson 24-1 A skeleton in the cupboard

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 pound of the fact. George studied medicine in his youth. Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories.

skeleton  [ˈskelɪtn] 骷髅

cupboard [ˈkʌbərd] 橱柜;食物柜;衣柜

seemingly [ˈsiːmɪŋli]  表面上地

respectable   [rɪˈspektəbl] 体面的、雅观的,值得尊敬的

conceal  [kənˈsiːl] 隐藏、隐瞒     conceal sth.  from sb.  对某人隐瞒某事

vivid [ˈvɪvɪd]  生动的

possess [pəˈzes] 有，支配

dramatic [drəˈmætɪk] 令人激动的，扣人心弦的

ruin [ˈruːɪn] 毁坏

reputation [ˌrepjuˈteɪʃn]  名声、名誉

the reader's hair stands on end  读者毛骨悚然

heroine  [ˈheroʊɪn] 女主人公

occur  [əˈkɜːr]  出现、发生、存在

fiction  [ˈfɪkʃn]小说

varying [ˈveriɪŋ] 不同的，  to varying degrees  在不同程度上的

youth [juːθ]  n.  青年、年轻

detective [dɪˈtektɪv]  n.   adj.    侦探

不知不觉，朗读这件事已经坚持了100天了。一年的三分之一的光阴，可以做很多事，也可以什么都不做任时光流逝也毫无察觉。当然，有时候会划水，很多单词没有狠狠记，后面反复出现的时候还是会觉得陌生。接下来要多用心记生词和短语。