奥斯卡·王尔德（Oscar Wilde，1854—1900），为英国著名文豪，是19世纪最富盛名的剧作家，他的作品在剧院演出后得到广大回响，他并身兼诗人、小说家、散文家、童话作家等，19世纪与萧伯纳齐名的英国才子。

　　THE OTTS FAMILY COMES TO CANTERV LLE
　　When Hiram B．0tis，the American businessman，bought the house called Canterville Chase，peopletold him that he was doing a very dangerous thing．Everybody knew that there was a ghost in the house．LordCanterville himself told Mr Otis all about it．
　　‘We don’t 1ike to live in the house ourselves，’he said．‘Too many of my family have seen the ghost．My wife’Sgrandmother，the Duchess of Bolton，is one of them．Onenight，while she was dressing for dinner，two skeletonhands were put on her shoulders．She has been ill for yearsbecause of that．And my wife never got any sleep there，because of all the noises at night．’
　　‘Lord Canterville，’answered Mr 0tis，‘1 will buyboth the house and the ghost．I come from a moderncountry，and we can buy nearly everything in America—but not ghosts．So，if there really is a ghost in the house，we can send it home to America，and people will pay tO goand see it．’
　　‘I’m afraid that the house really does have a ghost．’said Lord Canterville，smiling．  ‘Perhaps there are noghosts in your country，but our ghost has been in the housefor three hundred years。
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　　1．  奥蒂斯一家来古堡
　　当美国商人海勒姆．B．奥蒂斯买下那座叫坎特维尔古堡的宅邸时，人们对他说，他正在做一件非常危险的事情。每个人都知道，那座宅子里有一个幽灵。坎特维尔勋爵还亲自对奥蒂斯先生讲了有关它的一切。
　　“我们自己都不愿意在那房子住，”他说，“我家里有很多人都见过这个幽灵。我妻子的祖母，博尔顿公爵夫人，就是其中一位。有天晚上，当她正在穿衣服准备去赴宴，有两只骷髅手放在了她的肩膀上。她因此一病不起，有好多年了。我妻子从没在那儿睡着过觉，因为晚上总有各种稀奇古怪的声音。”
　　“坎特维尔勋爵，”奥蒂斯先生答道，“我要把房子，还有幽灵都买下来。我来自现代化的国家，在美国我们几乎能买到一切一一可买不到幽灵。所以，如果宅子里真有幽灵，我们就把它送回美国去，人们会花钱来参观的。”
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