急起直追 catch up
Explanation
立即行动起来，努力追赶上去。比喻不甘落后，奋力赶超。
Immediately act and strive to catch up. It is used to describe someone who is unwilling to fall behind and strives to catch up.
Origin Story
话说唐朝时期，有个叫李白的书生，自幼聪颖好学，然而因为家境贫寒，没能接受良好的教育。成年后，李白决心勤奋学习，每天挑灯夜战，废寝忘食，刻苦攻读。他广泛阅读，涉猎经史子集，尤其对诗歌情有独钟。一天，李白在集市上偶然听到一位老先生吟诵一首唐诗，气势磅礴，意境深远，令他深深折服。老先生得知李白志向远大后，便欣然指点迷津，告知他诗歌创作的技巧和诀窍。李白如获至宝，认真学习，并将这些技巧融会贯通，用于自己的诗歌创作中。很快，李白的诗歌才华得到了充分展现，他的作品流传甚广，备受赞誉。然而，他并没有因此而骄傲自满，而是继续努力，不断学习，精益求精，最终成为一代诗仙，名垂青史。他从默默无闻到名扬天下，正是急起直追的最佳写照。
In ancient China, there lived a young man named Li Bai. He was talented but poor. He couldn't study well because his family was poor. One day, he heard an old man reciting a poem that was incredibly good. Li Bai was impressed. The old man taught him how to write poetry. Li Bai studied diligently. Soon, he wrote poems that became very famous. He worked very hard and became a great poet. His story is a good example of “jí qǐ zhí zhuī”.
Usage
形容奋起直追，努力赶超。
To describe someone catching up and surpassing.
Examples
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他虽然起步较晚，但他奋起直追，最终取得了成功。
ta suiran qibu jiao wan,dan ta fenqi zhui,zhongyu qude le chenggong.
Although he started late, he caught up and eventually succeeded.
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看到竞争对手后来居上，我们必须急起直追，不能落后。
kan dao jingzheng duishou houlai ju shang,women bixu jiqi zhizhui,buneng luo hou.
Seeing that our competitors had overtaken us, we had to catch up so as not to fall behind.