掩耳盗铃 (Yăn’ĕr dàolíng) To Cover One’s Ears When He Steals the Bell

(Get familiar with Chinese culture and you will get a deeper understanding of idioms.)

Listen to This Story And Practice Your Chinese Pronunciation.

Yŏu gè xiăotōu kànjiàn fànshì  jiālĭ  yŏu yì kŏu míngguì de dàzhōng, tā xiăng bă zhōng qiāo suì , ránhòu zài fēnbié bān huí jiā.
有个小偷看见范氏家里有 一口名贵的大钟， 他想把钟敲碎， 然后再分别搬回家。
A thief wanted to steal the Fan family’s very valuable and large bell, so he decided to smash it so that he could carry it home.

Kĕ qiāo zhōng de jùxiăng bă tā xià  le yí dà tiào,   tā bùyóuzì zhŭ dì wŭzhù  zìjĭ  de ĕrduo.
可敲钟的巨响把他吓了一大跳，他不由自主地捂住自己的耳朵。
But when he hit it, the loud clang surprised him and he covered his ears, thereby muffling the sound.

Tā gāoxìng de fāxiàn zhōng shēng biàn xiăo le,  yúshì tā  lìkè zhăo lái liăng gè bùtuán, bă ĕrduo sāizhù, fàngshŏu zá qĭ zhōng lái, rénmen tīng dào zhōng shēng fēngyōng’érzhì bă xiăotōu zhuō zhù le.
他高兴的发现钟声变小了，于是他立刻找来两个布团，把耳朵塞住，放手砸起钟来，人们听到钟声蜂拥而至把小偷捉住了。
He decided to use the cloth to plug his ears, foolishly thinking it quieted the bell so that he could hit it repeatedly. Neighbors soon heard the sound and caught the thief in the act.

(Consider him stupid? Say you are really something to him.)

Thus, the moral of the story is that the sound of the bell exists objectively; it won’t be silenced even if you cover your own ears. This story vividly explains the basic principle of dialectical materialism: all things exist objectively—a fact that should not be ignored, or else you will deceive yourself and suffer the consequences.