During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a very skilled archer. One day while he was doing drills on the field, a big crowd drew around him. The onlookers cheered with excitement each time he made an accurate shot. He was very proud of his skill, but his pride was hurt when he saw that an old oil peddler standing in the crowd was only nodding his head indifferently.
"Can you do this?" he asked the old oil peddler.
"No, I can't."
"What do you think of my skill?"
"It's OK, but nothing special. You've gained your accuracy from persistent practice. That's all."
"What can you do, then?"
The old man said nothing. He put a gourd bottle on the ground and covered its mouth with a copper coin. He then scooped out a ladle of oil from his big jar, held it high in the air and began to pour it into the gourd. A thread of oil came down from the ladle into the bottle, just through the hole of the coin. Everyone in the crowd watched with amazement. The old man said, "This is nothing special. I can do this because I have practiced it a lot." With these words, he left.
Later, people used the phrase, "shú néng shēng qi?o" to mean, "practice makes perfect."
shú néng shēng qi?o
熟能生巧
?????? 北宋時期，有個技藝高超的射手。一天，他在訓練場上練習射箭，引來了一大群人觀看。大家都稱贊他的技藝，他也很得意。但是，人群中有個賣油翁只是淡淡地點點頭，這使他很不高興。
?????? 他就問那老頭：“你會射箭嗎？”
?????? “不會。”
?????? “你認為我的技術如何？”
?????? “一般。沒什么特別的，你只不過反復練習，所以手法熟練罷了，僅此而已。”
?????? “你會干什么？”
?????? 這個老頭沒有回答。他把一個葫蘆放在地上，在葫蘆口上放了一枚銅錢，然后從大油壺里舀起一勺油，從高處往葫蘆里倒。只見那油就像線一樣從銅錢中間的小洞里滴下去，一滴都沒有漏出來。圍觀者都驚呆了，而這個賣油翁卻說：“其實沒什么大不了的，只不過是天天練的結果。”說完，他就離開了。
?????? 后來，人們用這個成語來表示熟練了就能做得好。
yī sī bù g?u
一絲不茍
scrupulous about every detail; conscientious and meticulous; in a careful and serious manner
