Chinese idiom: bàn tú ér fèi

The idiom "半途而廢(bàn túér fèi)" means "give up halfway."

During the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220AD), there was a man called Yue Yangzi. Encouraged by his wife, he left home to visit scholars and enrich his knowledge.

A year later, he came back home suddenly.

"Why have you returned?" asked his wife in surprise, "You've only spent one year studying with scholars."

"I come back because I missed you very much," Yue Yangzi replied.

Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had worked. Pointing at the half-done brocade, she proclaimed, "This brocade is woven from the finest silk. I wove one strand after another to produce the brocade. Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be wasted. It's the same with your studies. Now, you've stopped halfway. Isn't it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?"

Deeply moved by what she said, Yue Yangzi again left home to continue his studies.

Several years later, he finished his studies and became a learned man.

東漢時，有個名叫樂羊子的人，在妻子的鼓勵下，出遠門拜師求學.

一年后，樂羊子突然回到家中.

他的妻子很驚訝地問："你怎么回來了？你才和那些學者學了一年呀！"

樂羊子說："我太想你了，所以回來看看。"

他的妻子聽了之后，二話不說，拿起把剪刀走到她的織布機前，指著那塊已經完成了一半的錦緞說："這塊錦緞用的是最好的絲，我一絲絲的累積來織成這錦緞。如果我現在把它剪斷，就等于前功盡棄。你求學也是這樣，如果現在停止，和剪斷織布機上的錦緞有什么區別？"

樂羊子被妻子的話深深感動，于是立刻離開家，繼續拜師求學.

幾年后，樂洋子終于完成學業，成為一個博學的人.