一只畫眉鳥被囚禁在窗外掛著的一個籠子里，當其他鳥兒都酣睡時，她卻在夜里歌唱。有一個夜晚，蝙蝠飛過來，抓住鳥籠的柵欄，問她為什么白天默默無聲，卻在夜間放聲歌唱。小鳥回答說：“我這樣做是有道理的，曾經有一次，當我在白天唱歌時，一個捕鳥人被我的歌聲吸引，就用鳥籠子捉住了我。從此我只在夜里唱歌?！笨墒牵饏s說：“你現在這樣做根本沒用了，因為你已經成為了階下囚。若是在被捉住之前這樣做就好了，那樣或許你依然是自由之身！”

　　【籠子里的鳥與蝙蝠的故事寓意】

　　籠子里的鳥與蝙蝠其實就是說，在生活中我們要提前預判一些將要發生的事情，不要待事件發生之后再預防，那時候為時已晚。

　　【籠子里的鳥與蝙蝠的英文版】

　　THE CAGE-BIRD AND THE BAT

　　A Singing—bird was confined in a cage which hung outside a window,and had a way of singing at night when all other birds were asleep.One night a Bat came and clung to the bars of the cage，and asked the Bird why she was silent by day and sang only at night.“I have a very good reason for doing SO，”said the Bird：“it was once when I was singing in the daytime that a fowler was attracted by my voice，and set his nets for me and caught me.Since then I have never sung except by night.”But the Bat replied，“It is no use your doing that now when you are a prisoner：if only you had done SO before you were caught，you might still have been free.”

　　Precautions are useless arter the event.