36 Which of the following has the closest meaning to the word “petrified”?
(A) Excited.
(B) Shocked.
(C) Confused.
(D) Enlightened.

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 kind of situation. The terrible secret is called “a skeleton in the cupboard.” At some dramatic moment, the terrible story becomes known and a reputation is ruined. The reader’s hair stands on end when he reads the final pages of the novel that the heroine, a dear old lady who had been always so kind to everybody, had, in her youth,poisoned every one of her five husbands.

我們常在小說中讀到，某個看似體面的個人或家庭隱藏著一個多年的可怕秘密，不讓外人知道。英語中有一個生動的說法來描述這種情況，這個可怕的秘密被稱為“藏在櫥櫃裡的骷髏”。在某個戲劇性時刻，這個可怕的故事被揭露，聲譽毀於一旦。當讀者在小說的最後幾頁讀到，女主角，一位一直對大家都很親切的可愛老太太，在她年輕時毒死了她的五個丈夫時，讀者不禁毛骨悚然。

        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 “a skeleton 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 guest-room 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 in the cupboard one of my two suits I had brought with me. I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified. Askeleton 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. This was worse than “a terrible secret”; this was a real skeleton! However, 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.”

這種事情在小說中發生當然沒問題。我們每個人或多或少都有一些不想讓最親近的朋友知道的秘密，但很少有人有“藏在櫥櫃裡的骷髏”。我唯一知道有這種秘密的人是喬治·卡爾頓，他對此事感到非常自豪。喬治年輕時學過醫學，但他並沒有成為醫生，而是成為了一名成功的偵探小說作家。我曾經在他家度過了一個讓我永生難忘的不舒服的週末。喬治把我帶到一間他說很少使用的客房，讓我把東西放好然後下樓吃晚飯。我把襯衫和內衣放在兩個空抽屜裡後，決定把我帶來的兩套西裝中的一套掛在櫥櫃裡。當我打開櫥櫃門時，我驚呆了，一具骷髏懸掛在我眼前。門的突然移動讓它微微搖晃，給我一種它要跳出來的感覺。我扔下西裝，衝下樓告訴喬治。這比“可怕的秘密”更糟糕，這是一具真正的骷髏！然而，喬治並不同情。他微笑著說道，就像在談論一位老朋友一樣。“哦，那是塞巴斯蒂安，你忘了我曾經是醫學生。”