Covering One‘s Ears While Stealing a Bell

掩耳盗铃

Mr. Wang thinks he is clever， but he always does [en]foolish

things.[/en]

王先生总以为自己很聪明，实际上他总干傻事。

One day he sees a beautiful bell at the top of a door. “Oh! How nice! I will take it home.” He thinks， “What can I do?” After a while he has a “good” idea. “Aha! I have an idea now. I can plug my ears. Then I will not hear the ring when I take off the bell.”

一天，他看见一户人家的门头有个很漂亮的铃铛。“啊，真漂亮啊!我要把它拿回家去。”他自言自语道：“我该怎么做呢?”过了一会儿他想到了一个“好”主意。“啊哈!我有办法了!我把耳朵堵上，拿铃铛的时候就听不见铃声了。”

Then he does so. But as soon as he takes off the bell， the owner opens the door. “What are you doing?” the owner says angrily.

于是他就这样做了。可是他刚拿下铃铛，屋子的主人就打开门，怒气冲冲地说：“你在干什么?”

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.

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。

But the bell was too big for him.

可是钟又大又重，怎么也挪不动。

[/en]When he tried to knock it into pieces with a hammer there was a loud clanging sound. [/en]

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。小偷找来一把大锤，拼命朝钟砸去，咣的一声巨响，把他吓了一大跳。

He was afraid that someone will hear the noise and take the bell from him， so he immediately stopped his own ears.

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?他越听越害怕，不同自由地抽回双手，使劲捂住自已的耳朵。

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.

“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。