There was a man who had worked at a factory for twenty years. Every night when he left the plant, he would push a wheelbarrow full of straw to the guard at the gate.

有个男人在工厂工作了20年，每个晚上当他离开工厂的时候，他都会推着一辆满是稻草的小推车来到大门口的警卫处。

The guard would look through the straw, and find nothing and pass the man through.

警卫总是把稻草翻个底朝上，什么也翻不出来，只好放行。

On the day of his retirement the man came to the guard as usual but without the wheelbarrow.

一直到了这个男人退休的那一天，他仍然和往常一下来到警卫处，只是这次没有推小推车。

Having become friends over the years, the guard asked him, "Charlie, I've seen you walk out of here every night for twenty years. I know you've been stealing something. Now that you're retired, tell me what it is. It's driving me crazy."

他们做了好多年的朋友，警卫问他说，“查理，我看见你每天晚上从这里出去，有二十年了，我知道你一直在偷东西，现在你也退休了，告诉我吧，你到底偷了什么，我快被这件事搞疯了。”

Charlie simply smiled and replied, "Okay, wheelbarrows!"

查理笑了笑回答说：“好啊，我拿的是小推车！”

关于这个故事还有好多版本，不过讲的其实都是一个道理：Beware of red herrings; don't overlook the obvious. 小心转移注意力的东西；不要漏过最明显的东西，不过反过来也说明了，越是危险的地方越安全。