事倍功半 Twice the effort, half the result
Explanation
事倍功半是一个汉语成语，意思是工作费力大，收效小。形容花费了很多精力却收效甚微。这个成语出自《孟子·公孙丑上》：“故事半古之人，功必倍之。”
"Twice the effort, half the result" is a Chinese idiom, meaning that the work is laborious, but the return is small. It describes the situation when a lot of energy is invested, but little is achieved. This idiom is from the book "Mengzi · Gongsun Chou Shang": "The ancients used to double their effort to do things."
Origin Story
从前，有一个木匠，他非常勤劳，每天都早出晚归，认真工作。他有一个徒弟，名叫小明，也跟着他学习木匠手艺。 有一天，木匠让小明去砍柴，小明砍了一上午，才砍了几捆柴。木匠问小明：“怎么才砍了这么点柴？” 小明说：“师父，我使了很大的力气，可是砍的柴却不多，真是一点效率都没有。” 木匠听了，笑着说：“你这是事倍功半，你砍柴的时候，只顾着使劲，却不知道技巧，所以才会事倍功半。你看我，我砍柴的时候，不仅要使劲，还要注意技巧，这样才能事半功倍。” 小明仔细观察了师父砍柴的动作，发现师父砍柴时，不仅用力的方向要对，而且动作也十分协调。小明学着师父的样子，果然砍柴的速度快了很多，而且效率也提高了。 从此以后，小明明白了，工作不仅要努力，还要讲究方法，这样才能事半功倍。
Once upon a time, there was a carpenter who was very hardworking and worked early in the morning and late at night every day. He had an apprentice named Xiaoming, who also learned the craft of carpentry with him. One day, the carpenter asked Xiaoming to chop wood. Xiaoming chopped for the whole morning, but only chopped a few bundles of wood. The carpenter asked Xiaoming, "Why did you chop so little wood?" Xiaoming said, "Master, I used a lot of strength, but I didn't chop much wood. It really has no efficiency." The carpenter listened and said with a smile, "You are inefficient. You only focused on using force when chopping wood, but you didn't use any techniques, so you are inefficient. Look at me, I don't just focus on force when chopping wood, I also pay attention to techniques. That's how I'm efficient." Xiaoming carefully observed his master's chopping movements and realized that the master not only hit in the right direction, but also coordinated his movements. Xiaoming learned from his master and indeed he became much faster at chopping wood and his efficiency increased. From that day on, Xiaoming understood that work should not only be hard work, but also pay attention to methods, so that you can achieve twice the results with half the effort.
Usage
事倍功半是一个常见的成语，用于形容做事费力大，收效小。例如，学习时，如果方法不当，就会事倍功半，事倍功半，达不到预期的效果。在生活中，我们也经常会遇到事倍功半的情况，例如，工作时，如果方法不当，就会事倍功半，事倍功半，达不到预期的目标。因此，我们要学会事半功倍，事半功倍，才能取得更大的成功。
“Twice the effort, half the result” is a common idiom that describes the situation of putting in a lot of effort but getting little in return. For example, when studying, if you use the wrong method, you will get twice the effort, half the result, and you will not achieve the desired results. In life, we often encounter situations where we get twice the effort, half the result, for example, at work, if you use the wrong method, you will get twice the effort, half the result, and you will not achieve the desired goal. Therefore, we must learn to get twice the result with half the effort in order to achieve greater success.
Examples
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他为了完成任务，付出了很大的努力，但结果却事倍功半。
tā wèile wán chéng rèn wù, fù chū le hěn dà de nǔ lì, dàn jié guǒ què shì bèi gōng bàn.
He put a lot of effort into completing the task, but the result was half the effort, twice the work.
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学习要循序渐进，不要事倍功半。
xué xí yào xún xù jìn zhìn, bù yào shì bèi gōng bàn.
Learning should be gradual, not half the effort, twice the work.
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他为了完成任务，付出了很大的努力，但结果却事倍功半，真是得不偿失。
tā wèile wán chéng rèn wù, fù chū le hěn dà de nǔ lì, dàn jié guǒ què shì bèi gōng bàn, zhēn shì dé bù cháng shī.
He put a lot of effort into completing the task, but the result was half the effort, twice the work. It's really not worth it.