調查局三等
111年
[調查工作組] 外國文(英文)
第 36 題
📖 題組：
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. 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. 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. 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.”
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. 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. 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. 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.”
Which of the following has the closest meaning to the word “petrified”?
- A Excited.
- B Shocked.
- C Confused.
- D Enlightened.
思路引導 VIP
請試著想像：當你預期櫥櫃裡只有衣服，打開卻看到一個駭人的東西迎面晃動，在「轉身逃跑」之前的短暫瞬間，你的身體通常會呈現什麼樣的物理狀態？這種狀態與選項中哪個詞的情緒強度最接近？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
精彩的表現！你對語境的掌握非常精準！
- 觀念驗證：文中描述作者打開櫥櫃，赫然發現一具骷髏正在眼前晃動。根據後續他「扔下西裝」並「衝下樓」的劇烈反應，可以推斷他在當下的生理狀態是因極度驚嚇而僵住，這正是 petrified（石化、嚇呆）的核心語義。
- 難度點評：此題難度為 Medium。這是一道典型的語境推斷題。petrified 雖屬中高階字彙，但透過「骷髏」與「奔逃」的負面情緒連結，能有效鑑定學生整合上下文線索的能力。