A bird was confined¹ in a cage outside a window. She often sang at night when all other birds were asleep.

One night a bat came. He asked the bird why she was silent by day and sang only at night.

The bird answered, “Last year when I was singing in the daytime, a bird catcher heard my voice and caught me in his net.Since then I have never sung by day.”

The bat replied, "But it is useless to do this now that you have become a prisoner." Then he flew away.

●挂在窗口笼里的金丝雀，经常在鸟儿睡着的夜里歌唱。

●一天晚上，蝙蝠来了，飞过来问她为什么白天安静无声，夜里却要歌唱。

●金丝雀回答说：“去年我在白天唱歌时，捕鸟人听到我的歌声抓住了我。从此，我再也不在白天唱歌了。”

●蝙蝠说：“你现在才懂得谨慎已没用了，你若在变为囚徒之前就懂得，那该多好呀!”说完就飞走了。

寓意: 我们应该在危险发生之前就提高警觉，因为危险一旦发生，我们再怎样小心也没有用了。