Learn Chinese with @cn-reader: 事倍功半

In the previous post, I’m sharing with you the idiom “事半功倍 [shì bàn gōng bèi]”. Today, let me introduce you the antonym for it, it's 事倍功半[shì bèi gōng bàn].

Literally, it means twice the work with half the result. It usually indicates that one gets a minimal result despite of a lot of effort he’s taken.

Followed is a story that may help you understand this idiom.
Johnny and Bruce are both English majors in a university. Bruce studies really hard. In order to increase his vocabulary, he recites 50 words from the dictionary everyday. But he still could not catch up with Johnny.

“Johnny, I do not see you spend much time on studying, why could you still achieve great results in exams?” Bruce asks curiously.

“ Reciting the dictionary is not an effective way of learning language. I remember the vocabulary by watching English movies and reading English books, which allow you to understand the words first. In this way, you could remember the words easily and also know how to use them.”

Bruce replies surprisingly “No wonder why I feel so struggling. My way of learning really costs me so much time without yielding ideal results. It is 事倍功半[shì bèi gōng bàn].”

It's nothing wrong with hard-working, just sometimes we need to find the right way, either in studying or working.

Author: @Veronicazhu