争强好胜 Competitive and Striving
Explanation
争强好胜指争做强者，处处喜欢超过别人。褒贬意义兼有，取决于语境。
Being competitive and striving for excellence means always wanting to be the best and surpass others. The meaning can be positive or negative depending on the context.
Origin Story
小明和小亮是同班同学，也是从小一起长大的好朋友。两人都非常聪明好学，成绩也一直名列前茅。但是，小明性格争强好胜，凡事都要超过小亮，即使是小事也不例外。有一次，老师布置了一篇作文，主题是《我的梦想》。小明和小亮都认真地完成了作业，并都获得了优秀的分数。但小明发现小亮的作文比自己的更精彩，更富有想象力。于是，小明心里很不服气，认为自己不应该输给小亮。他开始想方设法地寻找小亮的作文的不足之处，甚至故意贬低小亮的作文。小亮发现小明的不满后，并没有生气，反而耐心地和小明交流，告诉他，竞争的目的是为了共同进步，而不是为了彼此打击。小明听后深受启发，明白了竞争应该以友谊为前提，互相学习，共同进步。从此以后，小明不再那么争强好胜，而是更加注重与同学之间的合作和友谊，并取得了更大的进步。
Xiaoming and Xiaoliang were classmates and best friends since childhood. Both were very intelligent and studious, and their grades were always among the top. However, Xiaoming was very competitive and wanted to surpass Xiaoliang in everything, even in small things. Once, the teacher assigned an essay with the theme of "My Dream." Both Xiaoming and Xiaoliang completed their assignments carefully and received excellent grades. But Xiaoming found that Xiaoliang's essay was more brilliant and imaginative than his own. So, Xiaoming felt very unconvinced and thought that he should not lose to Xiaoliang. He began to look for flaws in Xiaoliang's essay and even deliberately belittled Xiaoliang's work. After Xiaoliang discovered Xiaoming's dissatisfaction, he didn't get angry but patiently communicated with Xiaoming, telling him that the purpose of competition is to make progress together, not to undermine each other. Xiaoming was deeply inspired and understood that competition should be based on friendship, mutual learning, and common progress. From then on, Xiaoming was no longer so competitive but paid more attention to cooperation and friendship with his classmates and made even greater progress.
Usage
形容人好强，喜欢竞争，力求胜过他人。常用作宾语、定语。
Describes a person who is ambitious and competitive, striving to surpass others. Often used as an object or attribute.
Examples
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他争强好胜，凡事都要力争第一。
tā zhēng qiáng hào shèng, fán shì dū yào lì zhēng dì yī
He is very competitive and always wants to be the best.
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在学习中，我们应该积极向上，但也要避免争强好胜。
zài xuéxí zhōng, wǒmen yīnggāi jījí xiàng shàng, dàn yě yào bìmiǎn zhēng qiáng hào shèng
In our studies, we should be positive and strive to improve, but also avoid being too competitive.
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他性格争强好胜，容易与人发生冲突。
tā xìnggé zhēng qiáng hào shèng, róngyì yǔ rén fāshēng chōngtú
His competitive nature often leads to conflicts with others.