Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 凿壁借光 (Záobì-jièguāng)

Kuāng Héng niánqīng de shíhòu shífēn hàoxué, dànshì tā jiā lǐ hěn qióng, mǎi bù qǐ làzhú. Kuāng Héng wǎnshàng xiǎng dúshū de shíhòu, chángcháng yīnwèi méiyǒu dēngguāng ér fā chóu. Línjū jiā yǒu làzhú, wǎnshàng huì yǒu liàngguāng, dànshì liàngguāng què zhào bú dào tā de jiā lǐ. Hòulái, tā xiǎng le yí gè bànfǎ, jiù zài qiángbì shàng qiāoqiāo de záo le yí gè xiǎokǒng, ràng gébì rénjiā de zhúguāng tòu guòlái, měitiān jiè zhe xiǎokǒng zhōng wēiruò de guāngxiàn dúshū. Jiù zhèyang, tā jīngcháng xué dào shēnyè, hòu lái chéng le Xīhàn zhùmíng de xuézhě.
匡衡年轻的时候十分好学，但是他家里很穷，买不起蜡烛。匡衡晚上想读书的时候，常常因为没有灯光而发愁。邻居家有蜡烛，晚上会有亮光，但是亮光却照不到他 的家里。后来，他想了一个办法，就在墙壁上悄悄地凿了一个小孔，让隔壁人家的烛光透过来，每天借着小孔中微弱的光线读书。就这样，他经常学到深夜，后来成 了西汉著名的学者。

In the Western Han Dynasty there was a Chinese man named Kuang Heng. Kuang Heng was born in a poor family, but he was diligent in his study. As his family was too poor to afford a candle for him, he often felt sad as he could not study at night. Every evening he could see the candle light from his neighbor, but the light could not reach his house through the wall. Later, an idea came to him. He secretly make a small hole in the wall and let a glimmer of light come in through the hole. This light stolen from the neighbor allowed him to study until late at night. When he grew up he became a very famous scholar at his time.

Words:
蜡烛làzhú: candle (n.)
邻居línjū: neighbor (n.)
凿záo: to cut a hole; chisel; dig (v.)
微弱wēiruò: faint; feeble; thin; weak; slim ( adj.)
Meanings:

凿壁借光: 本义是凿开墙壁，偷借邻居家的灯光读书。后来指在艰苦的条件下坚持刻苦学习。

The original meaning of " Záobì-jièguāng " is to make a hole in the wall and read a book by stealing the light from a neighbor. Later it came to refer to studying under very hard conditions.

Sentences:

Xuéxí shì hěn jiānkǔ de shìqing, xūyào yǒu záobì-jièguāng de jīngshen.
学习是很艰苦的事情，需要有凿壁借光的精神。

Studying is very hard so the spirit of Záobì-jièguāng is necessary.