【成語來源】

　　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，宋朝縣令張乖崖在衙門周圍巡行。

　　He saw a minor official come out from the money vault hurriedly.看到一個小吏慌慌張張地從錢庫中走出來。

　　Zhang Guaiya stopped him and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?"張乖崖把他喊住問：“你這么慌慌張張干什么?”

　　"No reason." the officer answered.“沒什么。”那小吏回答說。

　　Zhang Guaiya recalled the things stolen from the money vault recently. He ordered the guards to search the officer.張乖崖聯想到最近錢庫經常失竊，便讓隨從對他進行搜查。

　　Consequently, there was a copper piece found in the officer’s headband.結果，在頭巾里搜到一枚銅錢。

　　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.張乖崖問他一共偷了多少錢，小吏不承認另外偷過錢，張乖崖便下令拷打。

　　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?” 小吏不服說：“ 偷了一枚銅錢有什么了不起，難道你還能殺了我？”

　　Zhang Guaiya was very angry and sent him to be executed.”張乖崖十分憤怒，就把他押到刑場斬首示眾。

　　He said to all the people, "Constant dripping of water wears away the stone, let alone stealing everyday."并對所有人說：“水滴不停的滴，就能把石頭滴穿，更不用說是每天偷盜了。”

　　【文化鏈接】

　　“滴水穿石”現在常用來比喻“雖然力量小，但只要目標專一，持之以恒，就一定能把艱難的事情辦成”，簡單來說也就是“毅力”二字，英語中可用“persistence”來表達，這是一個名詞，所以如果想要表達“持之以恒做什么事”的時候，就可以用“persist to do sth”，我們來一起看兩個例句：

　　As long as we persist to work hard, we can succeed just as constantly dripping water can wear away stone.只要我們堅持努力，總會滴水穿石，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.學習要有恒心和積累，滴水穿石，才能取得好成績。