掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào línɡ)

从前有个盗贼到范氏家中去偷东西，他发现范氏家的门外有一口古钟，心想它一定很值钱，便想把这座大钟偷走。可是这口钟太大了，又非常重，他根本就背不动。怎么办呢？盗贼急的没有办法，他围着这口大钟转来转去，抓耳挠腮，突然他想到，用大铁锤把钟敲碎，然后再一块块的偷走，不就行了吗？反正碎铜也能卖不少钱呢！

盗贼为自己能想到这个好主意暗暗高兴，于是他找了一把大铁锤，刚试着轻轻一碰大钟，大钟立刻就低沉的响了起来。盗贼吓了一跳，赶紧停下来，心里砰砰直跳，紧张极了。等到钟声停下来，他想：只轻轻一碰就响了，若使劲一砸，那钟声让范家的人听到了还得了？这可不行，得想个法子，盗贼急的出了一身冷汗，怎么办呢？贼不走空，总不能白来一趟吧！忽然他灵机一动，想出了一个高明的办法：大钟一响耳朵就能听见，如果我想办法把耳朵给掩上，让它听不见声音，不就没事了吗？

于是，盗贼就把自己的耳朵掩的严严实实，然后用大力气抡起铁锤，朝大钟砸去，大锤刚砸上去，顿时发出了巨大的响声，洪亮的钟声在夜空中飘荡，惊醒了范氏家里的人。还没等这个盗贼把钟敲碎，范氏家的人已把他团团围住，七手八脚的把他给捆了个结结实实，狠狠地痛打了一顿。这时，这个盗贼趴在地上，还在愚蠢的说：“我已经把耳朵给掩住了，你们怎么还能听见钟声啊！”范氏家里的人刚才还在为盗贼偷钟而生气，听了盗贼的蠢话后，都不禁哈哈大笑起来。

One upon time, a thief went to steal things in Fan’s family. At the door, he found a bell which he thought must be very valuable. He decided to carry it away on his back, but the bell was too bulky and heavy to be carried. What should he do? After a while of brain storming, he decided to break it into pieces with a hammer to make it easier for carrying, thinking that even the pieces would be worth a lot of money.

The thief was so happy that he could come up with this excellent idea. On his first hit, however, the bell made a loud noise, which made the thief terribly frightened. The thief stopped immediately, thinking even a soft hit would generate this loud noise, let alone a hard one. But a thief never goes empty. Then he came up with another idea: I would cover my ears so that they could not hear the sound of the bell.

He immediately got some odd bits of cloth and had his ears plugged with the two cloth rolls. He thought that in this way nobody could hear the sound of the bell. Feeling relieved, he began striking the bell with full power. After one blow, the resounding sound of the bell was heard at distant places, and finally Fan people caught the thief and beat him to the ground. At this time, the thief was still wondering: How can you still hear the sound with my ears being covered. Everyone burst out into laughter when they heard the stupid saying from the thief.

Literally, 掩耳盗铃 means "Plug One’s Ears While Stealing a Bell". The stupid action of the thief tells us: It is impossible to cover up something that is obvious. One can’t deceive himself by burying his head in the sand.

e.g.

yīfu zānɡle lǎndé xǐ jiù cánɡqǐlái, tā zǒnɡshì zhèyànɡ yǎn’ěrdàolínɡ.

衣服 脏了 懒得 洗 就 藏起来，她 总是 这样 掩耳盗铃。

Instead of washing her dirty clothes, she often deceives herself by hiding them away.

nǐ búzuò zuòyè, hái zǒnɡ juédé zìjǐ dōuhuì, wánquán jiùshì yǎn’ěrdàolínɡ.

你 不做 作业，还 总觉得 自己 都会，完全 就是 掩耳盗铃。

You should not deceive yourself by pretending that you know everything. You don’t even finish your homework.