中國語言故事英語版
東施效顰
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.
東施效顰，成語，效：效仿;顰：同矉，皺眉頭的意思。東施：越國的醜女，代指醜婦。比喻模仿別人，不但模仿不好，反而出醜。有時也作自謙之詞，表示自己根底差，學別人的長處沒有學到家。
越國苧羅(今浙江諸暨南)有位姓施的美女，因爲家住若耶溪西岸，所以村裏人叫她西施。若耶溪東岸也有位姓施的姑娘。她長得很醜，村裏人管她叫東施。
有一天，西施心口疼，走路的時候雙手捂住胸部，並且皺着眉頭。村裏人見她這個模樣，都同情地說：“瞧這姑娘的模樣，準是疼得難受，真是可憐!”
西施的病態正好被東施瞧見了。她一邊看，一邊默默記住她難受的姿態和動作。回到溪東後，也模仿西施的模樣，雙手捂住胸部，同時皺着眉頭。
東施的這副模樣，使村裏人大吃一驚，富人緊閉大門不出來，窮人也帶着妻兒躲開。 東施只知道人家皺着眉頭很美，卻不知道爲什麼皺着眉頭會美。
掩耳盜鈴
Plugging One's Ears While Stealing a Bell
【寓言典故】掩耳盜鈴：原爲掩耳盜鐘。掩：遮蓋;盜：偷。把耳朵捂住偷鈴鐺;以爲自己聽不見;別人聽不見。比喻自欺欺人。出處：《呂氏春秋·自知》：“百姓有得鍾者;欲負而走;則鍾大不可負;以椎毀之;鍾況然有音。恐人聞之而奪己也。遽揜(掩)其耳。惡人聞之;可也;惡己聞之;悖也。”
春秋時侯，晉國貴族智伯滅掉了範氏。有人趁機跑到範氏家裏想偷點東西，看見院子裏吊着一口大鐘。鍾是用上等青銅鑄成的，造型和圖案都很精美。小偷心裏高興極了，想把這口精美的大鐘揹回自已家去。可是鍾又大又重，怎麼也挪不動。他想來想去，只有一個辦法，那就是把鐘敲碎，然後再分別搬回家。
小偷找來一把大大錘，拼命朝鐘砸去，咣的一聲巨響，把他嚇了一大跳。小偷着慌，心想這下糟了，這種聲不就等於是告訴人們我正在這裏偷鍾嗎?他心裏一急，身子一下子撲到了鐘上，張開雙臂想捂住鐘聲，可鐘聲又怎麼捂得住呢!鐘聲依然悠悠地傳向遠方。
他越聽越害怕，不同自由地抽回雙手，使勁捂住自已的耳朵。“咦，鐘聲變小了，聽不見了!”小偷高興起來，“妙極了!把耳朵捂住不住就聽不進鐘聲了嗎!”他立刻找來兩個布團，把耳朵塞住，心想，這下誰也聽不見鐘聲了。於是就放手砸起鍾來，一下一下，鐘聲響亮地傳到很遠的地方。人們聽到鐘聲蜂擁而至把小偷捉住了。
故事出自《呂氏春秋·自知》“掩耳盜鐘”被說成“掩耳盜鈴”，比喻愚蠢自欺的掩飾行爲。
【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.
