A young mole once boasted to his mother that he could see. Now the mother knew very well that all moles are blind: they live in dark underground burrows and do not need to see where they are going. She decided to find out whether the young mole was lying and she prepared a test. She laid a lump of sweet-smelling soap in front of him.
一次，小鼹鼠向妈妈吹嘘说它能看见东西。妈妈心里很明白，鼹鼠都是看不见的：它们生活在黑暗的地洞里，不需要看见要去往哪里。它决定弄清楚小鼹鼠是否在撒谎，于是准备试一试。它把一块香皂放在小鼹鼠面前。
“Now, what do you see？”she asked.
“看见什么了？”妈妈问。
The young mole touched the hard soap gently with his nose.
小鼹鼠用鼻子轻轻地碰了碰坚硬的香皂。
“A stone, mother,”he said.
“是石头，妈妈。”它回答道。
The mother laughed.
妈妈笑了。
“You are not only blind like the rest of us,”she said,“but you have no sense of smell either. If you had not boasted about being able to see I would never have found out about that.”
“你不但和其他同类一样看不见，”它说，“甚至连嗅觉也没有。如果不是你吹嘘能看见东西，我永远也不会发现这一点。”