இ To Hear, Or Not To Hear

"If I could have only one of my senses then I would choose hearing, Then I wouldn't feel so all alone." ~ Helen Keller

"One third of our life is spent with our eyes closed, because we are asleep. An estimated twenty years. Yet in any second of those twenty years our ears can command our eyes to open and search for the source of a sound. When our eyes are open our ears can hear through walls, and all around where our eyes cannot see and still command our eyes to search for the source of sounds." ~ Jim S. Davis II, BC-HIS, ACA.

So now how important is your hearing? Have it checked.

Any sound above 85 dB (decibel) can cause hearing loss, and the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure. You know that you are listening to an 85-dB sound if you have to raise your voice to be heard by somebody else. Eight hours of 90-dB sound can cause damage to your ears; any exposure to 140-dB sound causes immediate damage (and causes actual pain). More info HERE.

TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US!!!

Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were playing golf one fine beautiful day.

One remarked to the other, “Windy, isn't it?”

“No,” the second man replied, “it's Thursday.”

And the third man chimed in, “So am I. Let's have a beer.”

Chinese Idiom: 掩耳盗铃*pinyin:yǎn ěr dào líng [lit. Cover Ear Steal Bell]

 掩 : yǎn *cover* | 耳 : ěr *ear* | 盗 : dào *steal* | 铃 : líng *bell*

 A thief sneaked into the house of Fan at night and saw a huge bronze bell hanging in the front yard. Since bronze could fetch him a good price, without hesitation decided to take it back home. However he faced a stiff problem as it was too heavy to be carried away. He then thought of another idea if he could break the bell into pieces that would solved all his transportation problem. With a first strike of his hammer it gave out a loud deafening bang which caught the thief by surprise and shook him terribly by covering his ears with both hands. At this instance he exclaimed "Aha the sound of the bell can not be heard when the ears are covered." He ripped off part of his clothes and scrolled them into two earplugs and stuffed into his ears. Through out the hammering in the middle of the night the banging noise of the bell woke up all the neighbours and he was caught red handed. The foolish man did not know that the only one who could not hear the sound of the bell was himself.

Image courtesy of  Baidu

This idiom 掩耳盗铃*pinyin:yǎn ěr dào líng* [To plug one's ears when stealing the bell] is used to satirize those who think they are smart but only deceive themselves. This applies to someone who does bad things and buries his head in the sand trying to pull a fast one in telling the world he is innocent.

"You have to hear what you don't want to hear, to know what you don't want to hear" ~ Dr. Gustav Mueller

 

Posted in: Chinese Idiom,To Hear Or Not To Hear