掩耳盗铃英文版·1
春秋时侯，晋国贵族智伯灭掉了范氏。有人趁机跑到范氏家里想偷点东西，看见院子里吊着一口大钟。钟是用上等青铜铸成的，造型和图案都很精美。小偷心里高兴极了，想把这口精美的大钟背回自已家去。可是钟又大又重，怎么也挪不动。他想来想去，只有一个办法，那就是把钟敲碎，然后再分别搬回家。
小偷找来一把大大锤，拼命朝钟砸去，咣的一声巨响，把他吓了一大跳。小偷着慌，心想这下糟了，这种声不就等于是告诉人们我正在这里偷钟吗?他心里一急，身子一下子扑到了钟上，张开双臂想捂住钟声，可钟声又怎么捂得住呢!钟声依然悠悠地传向远方。
他越听越害怕，不同自由地抽回双手，使劲捂住自已的耳朵。“咦，钟声变小了，听不见了!”小偷高兴起来，“妙极了!把耳朵捂住不住就听不进钟声了吗!”他立刻找来两个布团，把耳朵塞住，心想，这下谁也听不见钟声了。于是就放手砸起钟来，一下一下，钟声响亮地传到很远的地方。人们听到钟声蜂拥而至把小偷捉住了。
故事出自《吕氏春秋·自知》“掩耳盗钟”被说成“掩耳盗铃”，比喻愚蠢自欺的掩饰行为。
【英文描述】
Plugging One's Ears While Stealing a Bell
During the Spring and Autumn period, Zhi Bo of the State of Jin destroyed Fan's family. Takingadvantage of this occasion, a man went to Fan's house and tried to steal something. As soon asthe man entered the gate, he saw that there hung a big bell in the courtyard. The bell was cast inhigh-quality bronze, and was beautiful in design and shape. The thief was very glad, and decidedto carry this beautiful bell back home. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not move thebell, because the bell was both big and heavy. He thought and thought again, and believed therewas only one way to solve the problem. He had to break the bell to pieces before he was able tocarry them back to his home separately.
The thief found a big iron hammer, with which he struck the bell with all his might. The strikingproduced an enormous crashing sound, which might. The striking produced an enormouscrashing sound, which made the thief terribly frightened. The thief got flurried, thinking that it wastoo bad to have produced the crashing sound which would himself on the bell, trying to mufflethe crashing sound with his arms. But how could the crashing sound of the bell be muffled? Thecrashing sound still kept drifting melodiously to distant places. The more he listened to the sound,the more frightened he became. He subconsciously shrank back, and covered his ears hard withhis hands. "Hey, the sound becomes fainter, inaudible," the thief became cheerful at once,"wonderful! The sound of the bell can not be heard when the ears are covered." He immediatelygot some odd bits of cloth, made two rolls with them, and had his ears plugged with the two clothrolls. He thought that in this way nobody could hear the sound of the bell. Feeling relieved, hebegan striking the bell, one blow after another. The resounding sound of the bell was heard atdistant places, and finally people caught the thief by gracing the sound.
Later, people have used the set phrase "plugging one's ears while stealing a bell" to refer to theignorance and foolishness of the person who deceives himself as well as others.
掩耳盗铃英文版·2
掩耳盗铃 -Ostrich Logic (Yan Er Dao Ling)
At the time when Fan, a nobleman of the state of Jin, became a fugitive, a commoner found a bell and wanted to carry it off on his back. But the bell was too big for him. When he tried to knock it into pieces with a hammer there was a loud clanging sound. He was afraid that someone will hear the noise and take the bell from him, so he immediately stopped his own ears.
To worry about other people hearing the noise is understandable, but to worry about himself hearing the noise (as if stopping his own ears would prevent other people from hearing) is absurd.
掩耳盗铃英文版·3
Cover ears to steal a bell
One day, a man sees a big bell and wants to steal it. But the bell is big, he can’t take it home by himself. He thinks for a while, then he has a good idea: break the bell into pieces and take the pieces home. So he finds a hammer and hits the bell, but the bell rings so loudly. He is afraid that other people could hear the noise and catch him. Suddenly, he has another good idea: I can cover my ears with cotton, so my ears won’t hear the noise. So he covers his ear and hits the bell hard. After a while, people around hear the noise and catch him.
单词：
cover 遮盖，堵住 steal 偷
bell 钟，铃铛 want to 想要
take…home 把…带回家
himself 他自己 by himself 独自
think 想，认为 for a while 一会儿
idea 主意 break 打碎，破坏
piece 块，片 find 找到
break into pieces 打碎成快
hammer 锤子 hit 击打
ring 发出响声 loudly 大声的
be(am is are) afraid 害怕
other 其他的 could 可能，会
noise 响声 catch 抓住
him 他(宾格形式，主格是he)
suddenly 突然 another 另一个
cotton 棉花 hear 听见
won’t=will not 将不会
hard 用力的，努力的
after a while 过了一会儿
people 人们(复数) around 周围的
people around 周围的人们
译文：
掩耳盗铃
一天，一个人(英语里man常常被翻译成人而不用特指男人)看见一个大钟就想偷它。但是这个钟太大了，他不能独自把它带回家。他想了一会儿，然后有了一个好主意：把钟打碎成小块，再把小块带回家。他找了一把锤子去敲钟。但是钟发出了很大的响声。他害怕其他人听到声音把他抓住。突然，他有了另一个好主意：我可以用棉花把耳朵堵上，这样我的耳朵就不会听到声音了。于是他堵上了他的耳朵并用力的敲钟。过了一会儿，周围的人们听到声音就把他抓住了。
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