掩耳盜鈴是一則非常簡短的小故事，但這則寓言故事雖然簡短，但卻形象而生動地闡明了一條辯證唯物主義的基本原理：對客觀存在的現實不正視、不研究，採取閉目塞聽的態度，這是自欺欺人，終究會自食苦果的。
Plugging One’s Ears While Stealing a Bell
Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to steal his neighbor’s doorbell. However, he knew clearly that the bell would ring and catch the other people’s attention as long as he touched the bell. So he thought hard and suddenly hit on a clever “idea”. He plugged his ears with something, thinking that everything would go well when he stole the bell. Unfortunately to his disappointment, the bell still rang loudly and he was caught on the spot as a thief.
【譯文】
掩耳盜鈴
從前，有一個人想偷鄰居門上的鈴，但是他知道一碰到鈴，鈴就會響起來，被人發現。他想啊想，終於他想出一個“妙極”，他把自己的耳朵用東西塞起來，就聽不見鈴聲了。但是當他去偷鈴時，鈴聲仍舊響起來，他被別人當場抓住。