唐朝大诗人李白小时候不喜欢学习，常常不去上课，到街上玩。
一天，李白又没有去上学，在街上东看看、西看看，温暖的阳光、快乐的小鸟、美丽的花草，天气太好了！
“这么好的天气，如果一天都在房间里学习多没意思！
”在一个小房子门口，坐着一个老婆婆，正在磨非常粗的铁棒。
李白走过去，“老婆婆，您在做什么？
”“我要把这个铁棒磨成一根针。
”老婆婆回答李白。
“针？
”李白又问：“是做衣服的针吗？
”“当然！
”“可是，铁棒这么粗，什么时候可以呢？
”老婆婆问李白：“水滴可以穿透石头，铁棒为什么不能呢？
只要我比别人努力，就会成功。
老婆婆的话，让李白很不好意思，回去以后，再也没有不去学校，学习也特别努力，成了非常有名的大诗人。
“只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针。
”千年过去，中国人还是非常喜爱这句话。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL0VmZm9ydF9NYXR0ZXJzXzMwMDkubXAz&filename=Effort-Matters.mp3&signature=8a1a2c86b844235a63a65a990275e389406097ba9f1688c9f13f5e8e216c3e7b
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 唐朝 | Táng cháo | Tang dynasty (618-907) |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest |
| 诗人 | shī rén | bard / poet |
| 李白 | Lǐ Bái | Li Bai (701-762), famous Tang Dynasty poet |
| 小 | xiǎo | young |
| 时候 | shí hou | time / length of time / moment / period |
| 不 | bù | no; not so |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | to like; to be fond of |
| 学习 | xué xí | to learn / to study |
| 常常 | cháng cháng | frequently; often |
| 去 | qù | to go, to go to |
| 上课 | shàng kè | to go to class / to attend class / to go to teach a class |
| 到 | dào | to leave for; to go to |
| 街上 | jiē shang | on the street / in town |
| 玩 | wán | to play / to have fun / to trifle with / to keep sth for entertainment |
| 一 | yī | one / single / a (article) |
| 天 | tiān | day |
| 又 | yòu | (once) again |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't / hasn't |
| 上学 | shàng xué | to go to school / to attend school |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 东 | dōng | east / host / landlord |
| 看 | kàn | to see; to look at / to read / to watch / to visit; to call on / to consider; to regard as / to look after / to treat (a patient or illness) / to depend on / to feel (that) / (after a verb) to give it a try / to watch out for |
| 西 | xī | west |
| 温暖 | wēn nuǎn | warm |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 阳光 | yáng guāng | sunshine |
| 快乐 | kuài lè | happy; joyful |
| 鸟 | niǎo | bird / "bird" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 196) / (intensifier) damned / goddamn |
| 美丽 | měi lì | beautiful |
| 花 | huā | flower / blossom / fancy pattern |
| 草 | cǎo | grass / straw / manuscript / draft (of a document) |
| 天气 | tiān qì | weather |
| 太 | tài | too (much) / very / extremely |
| 好 | hǎo | good / appropriate; proper |
| 了 | le | modal particle (emphasis) |
| 这么 | zhè me | so much / this much / how much? |
| 如果 | rú guǒ | if; in case; in the event that |
| 都 | dōu | all; both; entirely |
| 房间 | fáng jiān | room |
| 里 | lǐ | lining / interior / inside |
| 多 | duō | how (to what extent) |
| 没 | méi | (negative prefix for verbs) have not; not |
| 意思 | yì si | interest / fun |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 房子 | fáng zi | house / building (single- or two-story) / apartment / room |
| 门口 | mén kǒu | doorway / gate |
| 坐 | zuò | to sit / to take a seat / to take (a bus, airplane etc) / to bear fruit |
| 着 | zhe | aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state |
| 老婆婆 | lǎo pó pó | old woman; granny; elderly lady |
| 正在 | zhèng zài | to be in the process of (doing sth); to be currently ...-ing |
| 磨 | mó | to rub / to grind / to polish / to sharpen / to wear down / to die out / to waste time / to pester / to insist |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really |
| 粗 | cū | (of sth long) wide; thick / (of sth granular) coarse / (of a voice) gruff / (of sb's manner etc) rough; crude; careless; rude |
| 铁 | tiě | iron (metal) / arms / weapons |
| 棒 | bàng | stick / club / cudgel |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk / to go / to run / to move (of vehicle) / to visit / to leave / to go away / to die (euph.) / to change (shape, form, meaning) |
| 过 | guò | to cross / to go over / to pass (time) / to celebrate (a holiday) / to live / to get along |
| 您 | nín | you (courteous, as opposed to informal 你[ni3]) |
| 做 | zuò | to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc) |
| 什么 | shén me | what? |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 要 | yào | to want; to need; to ask for |
| 把 | bǎ | (used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb}) |
| 这个 | zhè ge | (pronoun) this / (adjective) this |
| 成 | chéng | to succeed / to finish / to complete / to accomplish / to become / to turn into / to be all right |
| 根 | gēn | classifier for long slender objects |
| 针 | zhēn | needle / pin / injection / stitch |
| 回答 | huí dá | to reply; to answer / reply; answer |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 衣服 | yī fu | clothes |
| 吗 | ma | (question particle for "yes-no" questions) |
| 当然 | dāng rán | certainly / of course / without doubt |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can / may / possible / able to |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?") |
| 水滴 | shuǐ dī | drop of water |
| 穿透 | chuān tòu | to penetrate |
| 石头 | shí tou | stone |
| 为什么 | wèi shén me | why? / for what reason? |
| 能 | néng | can / to be able to / might possibly |
| 只要 | zhǐ yào | so long as; provided; if |
| 比 | bǐ | (followed by a noun and adjective) more {adj.} than {noun} / (in some compounds derived from Classical Chinese) |
| 别人 | bié rén | other people; others; other person |
| 努力 | nǔ lì | hard-working; conscientious |
| 就 | jiù | in that case; then |
| 会 | huì | to be likely to; to be sure to |
| 成功 | chéng gōng | to succeed |
| 话 | huà | spoken words / speech / talk / words / conversation / what sb said |
| 让 | ràng | to permit / to let sb do sth / to have sb do sth / to make sb (feel sad etc) |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite |
| 回去 | huí qù | to return / to go back |
| 以后 | yǐ hòu | after / later / afterwards / following / later on / in the future |
| 再 | zài | again; once more; re- |
| 也 | yě | even (extreme or unexpected case) |
| 学校 | xué xiào | school |
| 特别 | tè bié | very; especially; particularly / in particular |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is |
| 名 | míng | famous |
| 只要功夫深 | zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn | With enough effort and perseverance, even the impossible can be achieved; the full proverb is “只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针” (“If the effort is deep enough, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle”). |
| 铁杵磨成针 | tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn | a proverb meaning that with perseverance, even an iron pestle can be ground down into a needle; persistent effort can achieve the impossible |
| 千 | qiān | thousand |
| 年 | nián | year |
| 中国 | Zhōng guó | China |
| 人 | rén | person; people |
| 还是 | hái shi | still (as before) |
| 喜爱 | xǐ ài | to like / to love / to be fond of |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 句 | jù | classifier for phrases or lines of verse |