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bá 拔 miáo 苗 zhù 助 zhǎng 长

拔苗助长 bá miáo zhù zhǎng

to spoil things through excessive enthusiasm; to try to hurry natural growth

Literally: pull seedling help grow

Intermediate 🐉 Animals & fables
🃏 Practise intermediate chengyu

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Origin

From the Mencius: a man of Song pulled his seedlings up a little to help them grow, and the next day they had all withered.

How to use it

Predicate or attributive; negative. Often 教育孩子不能拔苗助长.

Example sentences

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  1. 让五岁的孩子学中学的数学，这是拔苗助长。
    Ràng wǔ suì de háizi xué zhōngxué de shùxué, zhè shì bá miáo zhù zhǎng.
    Making a five-year-old learn secondary-school maths is forcing growth.
    make five year-old (particle) child study middle-school (particle) maths, this is pull seedling help grow
  2. 学习要一步一步来，拔苗助长只会让孩子讨厌学习。
    Xuéxí yào yī bù yī bù lái, bá miáo zhù zhǎng zhǐ huì ràng háizi tǎoyàn xuéxí.
    Learning must go step by step; forcing it only makes children hate studying.
    study must one step one step come, pull seedling help grow only will make child dislike study

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