中国语言故事英语版
东施效颦
Aping a Beauty
Shieth, a famous beauty, had a pain in her bosom, so she had a frown on herface when she went out. One day, she felt the pain again and as usual, put herhands on her chest and frowned. Although people couldn't help taking a glanceat her, they liked the way she acted nevertheless.
An ugly girl, named Dongth, from a village nearby, happened to see Shieth'sconduct in the street that day. And it suddenly occurred to her that this might bethe reason why Shieth was generally regarded as a beauty. Therefore Dongthaped Shieth, putting her hands on her chest and frowning too.
When a rich man in the neighbourhood saw her, he shut his doors tightly anddid not go out. When a poor man saw her, he took his wife and children andgave her a wide berth.
It was not Dongth's fault for being ugly, but aping with blindness was reallystupid. She only knew Shieth's frown looked beautiful but did not know thecause of the frown.
东施效颦，成语，效：效仿;颦：同矉，皱眉头的意思。东施：越国的丑女，代指丑妇。比喻模仿别人，不但模仿不好，反而出丑。有时也作自谦之词，表示自己根底差，学别人的长处没有学到家。
越国苎罗(今浙江诸暨南)有位姓施的美女，因为家住若耶溪西岸，所以村里人叫她西施。若耶溪东岸也有位姓施的姑娘。她长得很丑，村里人管她叫东施。
有一天，西施心口疼，走路的时候双手捂住胸部，并且皱着眉头。村里人见她这个模样，都同情地说：“瞧这姑娘的模样，准是疼得难受，真是可怜!”
西施的病态正好被东施瞧见了。她一边看，一边默默记住她难受的姿态和动作。回到溪东后，也模仿西施的模样，双手捂住胸部，同时皱着眉头。
东施的这副模样，使村里人大吃一惊，富人紧闭大门不出来，穷人也带着妻儿躲开。 东施只知道人家皱着眉头很美，却不知道为什么皱着眉头会美。
掩耳盗铃
Plugging One's Ears While Stealing a Bell
【寓言典故】掩耳盗铃：原为掩耳盗钟。掩：遮盖;盗：偷。把耳朵捂住偷铃铛;以为自己听不见;别人听不见。比喻自欺欺人。出处：《吕氏春秋·自知》：“百姓有得钟者;欲负而走;则钟大不可负;以椎毁之;钟况然有音。恐人闻之而夺己也。遽揜(掩)其耳。恶人闻之;可也;恶己闻之;悖也。”
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.
