一叶障目

In the State of Chu, there was a man whose family was very poor. The man never worked hard but to think about getting rich overnight.
One day, he read in a book that the mantis would hide its body under a leaf when it was going to catch a cicada and no one could find it. He wanted a leaf like this.
Thereupon, he ran into the woods to look for such a leaf. Finally he found the leaf and was ready to get it. But he was in such a big hurry that, out of carelessness, the leaf dropped to the ground. So he had to put all the leaves into a basket and carry them home.
As soon as he got home, he held up one leaf after another in turn to cover his eye, and asked his wife: “Can you see me?” At first, his wife always answered: “Yes, I can.” After a while, she became impatient and when his husband asked her again, she said: “No, I can’t see you now!” Hearing this, he became excited and ran out to the street. Holding the leaf in his hand, he grabbed the goods in a shop. But he was caught in the end.

楚国有个书生，由于生活贫穷，很想找到一条发财的门路。他读到一本书，书上说：谁得到螳螂捕蝉时遮身的那片树叶，别人就看不见了。他信以为真，整天在树下抬头望着。嘿！他终于看到了一只螳螂躲在一片树叶后面，正准备捕捉知了呢！他连忙把那片树叶摘下来。不料那片树叶掉下来，混在地上的落叶里，再也辨认不出了。他只好把所有的树叶扫回家来，一片一片地试。他把树叶遮住自己的眼睛，问妻子：你看得见我吗？妻子总是说：看得见！后来，妻子被他问得厌烦了，随口答了一声：看不见！他马上带着这片树叶，当面去取人家的东西，结果被人家扭送到衙门去了。县官经过审问，忍住笑，说：你真是一叶障目，不见泰山呀！