cellis@cedesktop:~/test>touch test.txt
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>ls -lh
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 cellis users 0 Jun  8 12:50 test.txt
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>ln -s test.txt test.lnk
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>ls -lh
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 cellis users 8 Jun  8 12:50 test.lnk -> test.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 cellis users 0 Jun  8 12:50 test.txt
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>chmod 400 test.lnk
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>ls -lh
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 cellis users 8 Jun  8 12:50 test.lnk -> test.txt
-r-------- 1 cellis users 0 Jun  8 12:50 test.txt
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>chmod 040 test.txt
cellis@cedesktop:~/test>ls -lh
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 cellis users 8 Jun  8 12:50 test.lnk -> test.txt
----r----- 1 cellis users 0 Jun  8 12:50 test.txt