前情提要：
　　《理想的丈夫》一文讲述的故事发生在上个世纪末维多利亚时代的伦敦。罗伯特•奇尔顿爵士（Sir Robert Chiltern）是一名仕途得意的议会议员和完美无瑕的体面绅士，拥有光明的政治前途，是女人们心目中的理想丈夫。奇尔顿和他那优雅迷人的妻子是一对人人羡慕的神仙眷侣。然而，奇尔顿的发迹是极不光彩的。1875年，英国政府决定购买苏伊士运河股票。奇尔顿意料到这一决定公布之后，运河股票必将猛涨，在公布之前买下大量股票者定能赚到一笔巨款，于是他将英国政府的这一机密卖给了一个外国银行家，并从中得到了巨额酬金，从此一跃成为富翁。然而，他写给银行家的信落到了女骗子彻弗莉夫人（Mrs. Cheveley）的手里。有一天，在奇尔顿太太举办的一个社交晚会上，彻弗莉夫人突然出现在奇尔顿面前。她出于私利逼迫奇尔顿支持一项旨在诈骗钱财的运河计划，并威胁他如果不就范，就将他不可告人的过去公诸于众，这足以毁掉奇尔顿如今所拥有的一切……本文所选的是该剧第一幕中彻弗莉夫人要挟奇尔顿，要他帮助她实现诈骗计划的场景。
　　
　　[Mrs. Cheveley threatens Sir Robert Chiltern step by step. Sir Robert Chiltern feeels furious and tries hard to refuse her.]
　　…
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: [rise 3) indignantly] If you will allow me, 4)I will call your carriage for you. You have lived so long abroad, Mrs. Cheveley, that you seem to be unable to realize that you are talking to an English gentleman.
　　Mrs. Cheveley: [detains him by touching his arm with her fan, and keeping it there while she is talking] I realize that I am talking to a man who laid the foundation of his fortune by selling to a Stock Exchange 5)speculator a 6)Cabinet secret.
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: [biting his lip] What do you mean?
　　Mrs. Cheveley: [rising and facing him] I mean that I know the real origin of your wealth and your career, and I have got your letter, too.
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: What letter?
　　Mrs. Cheveley: [7)contemptuously] The letter you wrote to 8)Baron Arnheim, when you were 9)Lord Radley’s secretary, telling the Baron to buy 10)Suez Canal shares—a letter written three days before the Government announced its own purchase.
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: [11)hoarsely] It is not true.
　　Mrs. Cheveley: You thought that letter had been destroyed. How foolish of you! It is in my possession.
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: The affair to which you 12)allude was no more than a speculation.13)The House of Commons had not yet passed the bill; it might have been rejected.
　　
　　Mrs. Cheveley: It was a swindle, Sir Robert. 14)Let us call things by their proper names. It makes everything simpler. And now I am going to sell you that letter, and the price I ask for it is your public support of 15)the Argentine scheme. You made your own fortune out of one canal. You must help me and my friends to make our fortunes out of another!
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: It is 16)infamous, what you propose—infamous!
　　Mrs. Cheveley: Oh, no! This is the game of life as we all have to play it, Sir Robert, sooner or later!
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: I cannot do what you ask me.
　　Mrs. Cheveley: You mean you cannot help doing it. You know you are standing on the edge of a 17)precipice. And it is not for you to 18)make terms. It is for you to accept them. Supposing you refuse—
　　Sir Robert Chiltern: What then?
　　Mrs. Cheveley: My dear Sir Robert, what then? You are ruined, that is all! …And what is the result? You all 19)go over like ninepins—one after the other. … Scandals used to lend charm, or at least interest, to a man—now they crush him. And yours is a very 20)nasty scandal. You couldn’t survive it. If it were known that as a young man, secretary to a great and important minister, you sold a Cabinet secret for a large sum of money, and that that was the origin of your wealth and career, you would 21)be hounded out of 22)public life, you would disappear completely. And after all, Sir Robert, why should you sacrifice your entire future rather than deal 23)diplomatically with your enemy? For the moment I am your enemy. I admit it! And I am much stronger than you are. You have a splendid position, but it is your splendid position that makes you so vulnerable. You can’t defend it! And I am in attack. Of course I have not talked morality to you. You must admit in fairness that I have spared you that. Years ago you did a clever, 24)unscrupulous thing; it turned out a great success. You owe to it your fortune and position. And now you have got to pay for it. Sooner or later we have all to pay for what we do. You have to pay now. Before I leave you tonight, you have got to promise me to suppress your report, and to speak in the House in favor of this scheme.

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