一只畫眉鳥(niǎo)被囚禁在窗外掛著的一個(gè)籠子里，當(dāng)其他鳥(niǎo)兒都酣睡時(shí)，她卻在夜里歌唱。有一個(gè)夜晚，蝙蝠飛過(guò)來(lái)，抓住鳥(niǎo)籠的柵欄，問(wèn)她為什么白天默默無(wú)聲，卻在夜間放聲歌唱。小鳥(niǎo)回答說(shuō)：“我這樣做是有道理的，曾經(jīng)有一次，當(dāng)我在白天唱歌時(shí)，一個(gè)捕鳥(niǎo)人被我的歌聲吸引，就用鳥(niǎo)籠子捉住了我。從此我只在夜里唱歌。”可是，蝙蝠卻說(shuō)：“你現(xiàn)在這樣做根本沒(méi)用了，因?yàn)槟阋呀?jīng)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(niǎo)與蝙蝠的故事寓意】

　　籠子里的鳥(niǎo)與蝙蝠其實(shí)就是說(shuō)，在生活中我們要提前預(yù)判一些將要發(fā)生的事情，不要待事件發(fā)生之后再預(yù)防，那時(shí)候?yàn)闀r(shí)已晚。

　　【籠子里的鳥(niǎo)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.