persistence/Constant dripping of water wears away the stone.

滴水穿石

One day， Zhang Guaiya (the county magistrate) was patrolling the government buildings.

一天，宋朝县令张乖崖在衙门周围巡行。

He saw a minor official come out from the money vault hurriedly.

看到一个小吏慌慌张张地从钱库中走出来。

Zhang Guaiya stopped him and asked， “Why are you in such a hurry?”

张乖崖把他喊住问：“你这么慌慌张张干什么?”

“No reason.” the officer answered.

“没什么。”那小吏回答说。

Zhang Guaiya recalled the things stolen from the money vault recently. He ordered the guards to search the officer.

张乖崖联想到最近钱库经常失窃，便让随从对他进行搜查。

Consequently， there was a copper piece found in the officer’s headband.

结果，在头巾里搜到一枚铜钱。

Zhang Guaiya asked him how much more money he had stolen. The officer refused to admit that he stole any additional money. Zhang Guaiya ordered that the officer be tortured.

张乖崖问他一共偷了多少钱，小吏不承认另外偷过钱，张乖崖便下令拷打。

The officer didn’t give in and said， “It’s nothing to steal just a copper piece. Could it be that you can kill me?”

小吏不服说：“ 偷了一枚铜钱有什么了不起，难道你还能杀了我?”

Zhang Guaiya was very angry and sent him to be executed.”

张乖崖十分愤怒，就把他押到刑场斩首示众。

He said to all the people， “Constant dripping of water wears away the stone， let alone stealing everyday.”

并对所有人说：“水滴不停的滴，就能把石头滴穿，更不用说是每天偷盗了。”

“滴水穿石”现在常用来比喻“虽然力量小，但只要目标专一，持之以恒，就一定能把艰难的事情办成”，简单来说也就是“毅力”二字，英语中可用“persistence”来表达，这是一个名词，所以如果想要表达“持之以恒做什么事”的时候，就可以用“persist to do sth”，我们来一起看两个例句：

As long as we persist to work hard， we can succeed just as constantly dripping water can wear away stone.

只要我们坚持努力，总会滴水穿石，取得成功。

Study requires the acquisition of knowledge and persistence. Just as dripping water wears away stone constant effort will help us to achieve good marks.

学习要有恒心和积累，滴水穿石，才能取得好成绩。