成语解释
【拼音】yǎn ěr dào líng【出处】战国·《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，钟况然有声。恐人闻之而夺己也，遽掩其耳。”
【用法】连动式；作谓语、定语、状语；含贬义
【解释】掩：遮蔽，遮盖；盗：偷。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。
【示例】《少奶奶的扇子》第四幕：“觉得可以保住自己的清高，岂非掩耳盗铃？”
硬把汉奸合法化了，只是～的笨拙的把戏。 ★《谨防汉奸合法化》
【近义词】、、盗铃掩耳
【反义词】
【灯谜 】聆
典故来源
从前，有一个人很愚蠢又很自私，他还有一个爱占便宜的坏毛病。凡是 他喜欢的东西，总是想尽办法把它弄到手，甚至是去偷。有一次，他看中了一家大门上挂的铃铛。这只门的铃铛制作得十分精致， 好看，声音也很响亮。他想，怎么样才能弄到手呢？最后决定,把它偷走。 他知道，只要用手去碰这个铃铛，就会'叮零叮零'地响起来。门铃 一响，耳朵就会听到铃铛的响声，有了响声，就会被人发现了。那可就得不 到铃铛了。那怎么办呢？他突然想出了一个办法。他认为，门铃一响，耳朵就会听见了 ，如果把自己的耳朵掩住，不是就听不见了么？于是，他自作聪明地采用这 个方法去偷门铃。 有一天晚上，他借着月光，蹑手蹑脚地来到这家大门前。他伸手 向上摘铃铛，但是，门铃挂得太高了，怎么也够不着，他只好扫兴地回来了。 回到家，他又想该怎么办呢？
他想叫邻居聋子一起去偷铃铛，踩着他的肩膀就能够摘到铃铛了。 可是又怕别人不干，不和他一起偷东西，只好自己踩着凳子摘铃铛吧。 第二天晚上，他带着凳子，又蹑手蹑脚地来到这家大门口。他踩 着凳子，一手掩住自己的耳朵，一手摘这只铃铛。谁知他刚碰到铃铛，铃铛响了， 这家主人发觉后，就把他抓住了。因为别人的耳朵并没有被掩住，仍然能 够听到铃铛的响声。
【提示】：钟声是客观存在，不因为你堵住耳朵就消失了；世界上的万物也都是客观存在，不因为你闭上了眼睛就不复存在或者改变了形状。这则寓言故事虽然简短，但却形象而生动地阐明了一条辩证唯物主义的基本原理：对客观存在的现实不正视、不研究，采取闭目塞听的态度，这是自欺欺人，终究会自食苦果的。
原文理解
【原文】范氏之亡也①，百姓有得钟者②。欲负而走③，则钟大不可负；以椎毁之④，钟况然有音⑤。恐人闻之而夺已也，遽掩其耳⑥。恶人闻之，可也；恶己自闻之，悖矣。——《》【注释】
①范氏之亡也——范氏是春秋末期晋国的贵族，被其他四家贵族联合打败后，逃在齐国。亡，逃亡。
②钟——古代的打击乐器。
③负——用背驮东西。
④椎（chuí）——槌子或棒子。
⑤况（huàng）然——形容钟声。
⑥遽（jǜ）——急速。
【译文】智伯消灭范氏的时候，有个人趁机偷了一口钟，准备背着它逃跑。但是，这口钟太大了，不好背，他就打算用锤子砸碎以后再背。
谁知，刚砸了一下，那口钟就'咣'地发出了很大的响声。他生怕别人听到钟声，来把钟夺走了，就急忙把自己的两只耳朵紧紧捂住。
害怕别人听到钟的声音，这是可以理解的；但捂住自己的耳朵就以为别人也听不到了，这就太胡涂了。
成语寓意
门铃的响声是客观存在的，不管你掩不掩耳朵，它总是要响的。凡是客观存在的东西，都不依人的主观意志为转移。有的人对不喜欢的客观存在，采取不承认的态度，以为如此，客观就不存在了，这和“掩耳盗铃”一样，都是极端的主观唯心主义——唯我论的表现。汉英对照
V1：掩耳盗铃：Stuffing his ears for the purpose of stealing a bell 在春秋战国时期，有一个小偷偷了一只钟。他准备把钟扛在背上带走。可是钟又大又沉，很难扛走。因此他想用锤子把钟敲成碎片，这样运起来就容易多了。In the Spring and Autumn period, a thief had stolen a bell and intended to carry it away on his back, but the bell was too bulky and heavy to be carried, so he tried to break it into pieces with a hammer to make it easier for carrying. 可是，他敲了一下，那只钟发出巨大的响声。他怕别人听到了钟声会来抢他的钟，于是他在用锤子敲钟时，捂上了自己的耳朵。不过，即使他这样做，别人还是听得到钟声的。所以掩耳盗铃是非常愚蠢的行为，就像把头埋在沙子中一样。
On his first hit, however, the bell made a loud noise. He thus feared that the ringing sound might be heard by someone, who would come to rob him of his bell. His fright made him plug his own ears, while hitting the bell with the hammer. The bell sound was, nevertheless, audible to others and therefore to stuff his ears for the purpose of stealing a bell was a stupid action, it is as foolish as burying one's head in the sand.
——淮南子 --Huai Nanzi
【注释】
小偷 thief
钟 bell
背 back
沉 heavy
锤子 hammer
抢 rob
捂 stuff
愚蠢 stupid
沙子 sand
V2：Plugging One's Ears While Stealing a Bell 春秋时候，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，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，不由自主地抽回双手，使劲捂住自己的耳朵。“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见钟声了吗！”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。
During the Spring and Autumn period, Zhi Bo of the State of Jin destroyed Fan's family. Taking advantage of this occasion, a man went to Fan's house and tried to steal something. As soon as the man entered the gate, he saw that there hung a big bell in the courtyard. The bell was cast in high-quality bronze, and was beautiful in design and shape. The thief was very glad, and decided to carry this beautiful bell back home. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not move the bell, because the bell was both big and heavy. He thought and thought again, and believed there was only one way to solve the problem. He had to break the bell to pieces before he was able to carry them back to his home separately.
The thief found a big iron hammer, with which he struck the bell with all his might. The striking produced an enormous crashing sound, which made the thief terribly frightened. The thief got flurried, thinking that it was too bad to have produced the crashing sound. He threw himself on the bell, trying to muffle the crashing sound with his arms. But how could the crashing sound of the bell be muffled? The crashing 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 with his 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 immediately got some odd bits of cloth, made two rolls with them, and had his ears plugged with the two cloth rolls. He thought that in this way nobody could hear the sound of the bell. Feeling relieved, he began striking the bell, one blow after another. The resounding sound of the bell was heard at distant places, and finally people caught the thief by tracing the sound.
This story comes from 'Knowing Yourself' in The Annals by Buwei, written just before the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) was founded. Allegedly, when Li Yuan, Emperor Gao Zu of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), read this story, he felt it simply ridiculous and said, 'This is what is called plugging one's ears while stealing a bell.' Later, people have used the set phrase 'plugging one's ears while stealing a bell' to refer to he ignorance and foolishness of the person who deceives himself as well as others.