掩耳盗铃，汉语成语，读音为yǎn ěr dào líng，意思是偷铃铛怕别人听见而捂住自己的耳朵。比喻自己欺骗自己，明明掩盖不住的事情偏要想法子掩盖。出自于《吕氏春秋·自知》。
Cover your ears and steal the bell, a Chinese idiom, pronounced yǎn ěr dào líng, meaning to steal a bell and cover your ears for fear of others hearing it. I like to deceive myself, and I have to try to cover up things that I can’t cover up. From “Lu Shi Chunqiu · Self-knowledge”.
成语故事
“成书不出姓名，以避近民之讥，此与掩耳盗铃之见何异？”
春秋时候，晋国世家赵氏灭掉了范氏。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己家去。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。
小偷找来一把大锤子，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，这钟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，不由自主地抽回双手，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。
成语寓意
钟的响声是客观存在的，不管你是否捂住耳朵，它都是要响的。客观存在的东西不会依人的主观意志而改变。有的人对于己不利，或不喜欢的客观存在，采取不承认的态度，以为如此它就不存在了，这和“掩耳盗钟”一样，都是极端的主观唯心主义——唯我论的表现。如果对客观存在的现实不正视、不研究，采取闭目塞听的态度的话，最终便会自食苦果。
Idiom story
“The book does not give a name to avoid the ridicule of the people in the near future. How is this different from the idea of hiding your ears and stealing bells?”
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhao family of the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Fan family. Someone took the opportunity to rush to Fan’s house to steal something, and saw a big clock hanging in the yard. The bell is made of fine bronze, with exquisite shapes and patterns. The thief was very happy, and wanted to carry this exquisite clock back to his home. But the clock was so big and heavy that it couldn’t move. He thought about it, but there was only one way, and that was to break the clock and then move home separately.
The thief found a big hammer and slammed it at the clock desperately, with a loud bang that shocked him. The thief panicked, thinking it was a mess. Isn’t this bell telling people that I’m stealing a bell here? He was anxious, he rushed to the bell, opened his arms to cover the bell, but how could he cover the bell! The sound of the bell still spreads leisurely into the distance.
The more he listened, the more frightened he became, and he involuntarily withdrew his hands, covering his ears hard. “Hey, the bell is getting smaller and I can’t hear it!” The thief was happy, “It’s wonderful! If you cover your ears, you won’t be able to hear the bell!” He immediately found two cloth balls and plugged his ears. Live, I thought, no one can hear the bell anymore. So he let go and slammed the bell, and the bell sounded loudly and spread far away. People heard the bells swarming and caught the thief.
Idiom meaning
The sound of the bell exists objectively, whether you cover your ears or not, it is going to ring. Objects that exist objectively will not change according to people’s subjective will. Some people take an attitude of not acknowledging the objective existence that is unfavorable to themselves or dislike, thinking that it does not exist in this way. This is the same as “covering one’s ears and stealing the clock”, which is an extreme subjective idealism-solipsism. Performance. If you don’t face up to the reality of the objective existence, don’t study it, and adopt an attitude of closing your eyes and listening, you will end up suffering yourself.