掩耳盗铃
Yǎn'ěr-dàolíng  

从前有一个小偷，跑到一户人家里想偷点东西。他看见院子里挂着一口大钟，高兴极了，心想：这口钟一定很值钱！于是，他便想把这口钟搬回家去。可是，钟非常沉，他怎么搬都搬不动。后来，他想到了一个办法，那就是把钟敲碎之后分别搬回家。小偷找了一把大锤子，使劲朝钟砸去，可是，刚一砸就发出了很大的响声。小偷慌了，急忙用手捂住耳朵，结果，钟声不见了。小偷想，捂住自己的耳朵，别人就听不见钟声了，于是又开始砸钟。结果，人们听到钟声之后，全都从家中跑出来，一下就抓住了小偷。

Plug One's Ears While Stealing a Bell—Deceive Oneself

In the ancient time, there was a thief who went to someone's house to steal. He saw a big bell hanging in the courtyard. The thief was very happy and he thought the bell looked valuable. Then, he decided to carry this beautiful bell back home. But the bell was too big and heavy. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move it. Later, he thought there was only one way to solve the problem. He had to break down the bell into parts before he was able to carry them back to his home. The thief found a big iron hammer, with which he struck the bell with all his might. But the striking produced a loud noise and even scared the thief. But when he covered up his ears he could no longer hear the noise. The thief became cheerful at once and thought the sound of the bell would not be heard by anyone if he covered up his own ears. Feeling relieved, he began striking the bell again, one blow after another. The sound of the bell was heard at distant places, and finally people caught the thief from tracing the sound.

词语注释：

小偷：(xiǎo tōu)n.: thief

钟：(zhōng)n.: bell

值钱：(zhí qián)adj.: valuable

沉：(chén)adj.: heavy

敲碎：(qiāo suì)v.: break down into parts

锤子：(chuí zi)n.: hammer

砸：(zá)v.: pound; smash

慌：(huāng)v.: flurried

意义：

掩耳盗铃：本义是捂住耳朵偷铃（钟）。比喻自己欺骗自己，明明掩盖不了的事情偏要想办法去掩饰。
Its original meaning is to plug one's ear while stealing a bell. It can be used as a metaphor, referring to people who deceive themselves or try to cover up things that can not be concealed.

例句：

• valuable [´væljuəbəl, -jubəl]   a.有价值的，贵重的   (初中英语单词)
• hammer [´hæmə]   n.锤子 v.重击   (初中英语单词)
• striking [´straikiŋ]   a.显著的，明显的   (初中英语单词)
• cheerful [´tʃiəful]   a.快乐的；高兴的   (初中英语单词)
• deceive [di´si:v]   vt.欺骗，欺诈   (初中英语单词)
• hanging [´hæŋiŋ]   n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的   (高中英语单词)
• courtyard [´kɔ:tjɑ:d]   n.院子，庭院   (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid]   a.明显的；决定的   (高中英语单词)