Meaning of the Idiom
ban tu er fei（Give up halfway）
During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in State Yue. One day he saw a piece of gold on the road and picked it up. He took it home and gave it to his wife. But his wife was not happy. The virtuous woman said, “I hear that a man of morality doesn’t drink a thief’s water and a man of probity refuses to accept alms. What do you think of the action of picking up another’s lost valuable and possessing it for one’s own?”
Yue Yangzi, feeling ashamed, sent the gold back to where he found it.
The next year, Yue Yangzi felt that he should go out and visit scholars to enrich his knowledge. So he set off.
A year later, he came back home suddenly.
“Why have you returned?” asked his wife in surprise, “You’ve only spent one year studying with scholars.”
“I come back because I missed you very much.”
Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had worked. Pointing at the half done brocade, she proclaimed : “This brocade is woven from the finest silk. I wove one strand after another to produce the brocade. Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be wasted. It’s the same with your studies. You can acquire knowledge only through diligence. Now, you’ve stopped halfway. Isn’t it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?”
Yue Yangzi was moved by what she said. He again left home to visit scholars. Several years later he became a learned man.
半途而废
bàn tú ér fèi，“半途而废”本义指半路上就停下来了，比喻做事不能坚持到底，有始无终。
出自西汉·戴圣《礼记·中庸》。
例句
不管冒多大风险，决不能让这次试验半途而废！
做任何事都不能半途而废，不然什么事都不会成功。
我们不能因为碰到一点小困难就半途而废。
Reading The Paragraphs!
Meaning of Words
| 词语 | 华文解释 | 英文解释 |
|---|---|---|
| 贤惠 | 指妇女善良温柔而通情达理。 例句：谁都知道她是个贤惠的人，心肠好，肯帮助人。 | virtuous |
| 锭 | 是指金属或药物等制成的块状物。 例句：这次考古发现，出土了很多汉代的银锭。 | spindle, slab, cake, tablet |
| 志气 | 指积极上进或做成某事的决心和勇气。 例句：这个孩子有志气，小小年纪就决心要成为飞行员。 | aspiration; ambition |
| 施舍 | 出于怜悯同情或积德思想，把财物、时间或爱心送给需要的人，比如穷人、乞丐或寺庙。 例句：有一些人是靠别人施舍而生活的。 | alms |
| 品行 | 指人的行为品德。 例句：看他的模样还规矩，就是不知道品行如何。 | behaviour |
| 玷污 | 意思是弄脏；污损。 例句：这个老人认为女儿与穷人结婚玷污了家族的名誉。 | tarnished |
| 前功尽弃 | 指以往的功劳全部废弃。 例句：实验到了最后一步非常关键，一不小心，可就前功尽弃了！ | all one’s previous efforts wasted |
| 触动 | 指碰动；由外界某种因素而激发(思想、情感等)。 例句：他在暗中摸索了半天，忽然触动了什么东西，响了一下。 | touch |
| 良苦用心 | 表示极费心思，用意深远，暗里为对方着想，但又不会明显表露。 例句：经过这么多年，他才明白母亲的良苦用心，这一切都是为了激发他上进。 | good intentions |
| 废寝忘食 | 意思是顾不得睡觉，忘记了吃饭。形容专心努力。 例句：救援队伍在废墟中废寝忘食，极力争取时间抢救被埋民众。 | forget food and sleep |
Daily Language 