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1 If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.
2 cf idiom 磨杵成針|磨杵成针, to grind an iron bar down to a fine needle (idiom); fig. to persevere in a difficult task
3 to study diligently

国家兴亡，匹夫有责

guó jiā xīng wáng , pǐ fū yǒu zé

1 The rise and fall of the nation concerns everyone (idiom). Everyone bears responsibility for the prosperity of society.

Sample Sentences

我啊，这说来话长了，总之，我吃了我丈夫的长生不老药，就飞到月亮上来了，现在真是后悔啊...

wǒ ā ，zhè shuōláihuàcháng le ，zǒngzhī ，wǒ chī le wǒ zhàngfu de chángshēngbùlǎo yào ，jiù fēi dào yuèliàng shàng lái le ，xiànzài zhēn shì hòuhuǐ ā ...

Me? It's a long story. In sum, I ate my husband's elixir of immortality and then flew to the moon, now I really regret it...

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怎么会？那是以前传统的观念，我听说过在中国传统观念里，女人就是为了家庭活着的，他们小的时候听父亲的，结婚了听丈夫的，有了儿子再继续听儿子的。

zénme huì ？nà shì yǐqián chuántǒng de guānniàn ，wǒ tīngshuō past experience marker zài Zhōngguó chuántǒng guānniàn lǐ ，nǚrén jiùshì wèile jiātíng huó zhe de ，tāmen xiǎo de shíhou tīng fùqin de ，jiéhūn le tīng zhàngfu de ，yǒu le érzi zài jìxù tīng érzi de 。

Why would they? That's the traditional notion from before. I hear that in the traditional Chinese conception, women lived for their families. When they were children, they obeyed their fathers, and after they married, they obeyed their husbands, then whenever they had sons, they continued to obey their sons.

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最近貌似“女主外男主内”的情形越来越普遍，我的朋友圈儿里好多对夫妻都是这种模式。丈夫在家洗衣做饭带娃，太太在外叱咤风云。

zuìjìn màoshì “nǚ zhǔ wài nán zhǔ nèi ”de qíngxing yuèláiyuè pǔbiàn ，wǒ de péngyou quānr lǐ hǎo duō duì fūqī dōu shì zhèzhǒng móshì 。zhàngfu zài jiā xǐyī zuòfàn dàiwá ，tàitai zàiwài chìzhàfēngyún 。

Recently it seems like situations in which wives go out to work and husbands stay at home are getting more and more common. In my circle of friends many couples follow this model. The husband stays at home and does the laundry, makes dinner and looks after the children, while the wife makes her mark in the working world.

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她说服丈夫搬家。

tā shuōfú zhàngfu bānjiā 。

She is pursuading her husband to move house.

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许仙看到那条巨大的白蛇，立刻就被吓死了。白素贞醒来，发现丈夫死了。她擦干眼泪，飞到天上去采灵芝。人家不让她采，她就偷了一颗。王母娘娘非常生气，要处死白素贞，观音娘娘为她求情，白素贞才拿到灵芝，回家救活了丈夫。

Xǔ Xiān kàndào nà tiáo jùdà de bái shé ，lìkè jiù bèi xià sǐ le 。Bái Sùzhēn xǐnglái ，fāxiàn zhàngfu sǐ le 。tā cā gān yǎnlèi ，fēi dào tiānshàng qù cǎi língzhī 。rénjiā bùràng tā cǎi ，tā jiù tōu le yī kē 。Wángmǔniángniang fēicháng shēngqì ，yào chǔsǐ Bái Sùzhēn ，Guānyīnniángniang wèi tā qiúqíng ，Bái Sùzhēn cái ná dào língzhī ，huíjiā jiùhuó le zhàngfu 。

As soon as Xu Xian saw the giant white snake, he was immediately scared to death. When Bai Suzhen awoke, she discovered that her husband was dead. Wiping away her tears, she flew up to heaven to pick a medicinal fungus. No one gave her permission to take one; she just stole it. The Queen Mother of the West was extremely angry and wanted to kill Bai Suzhen. Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy, asked for leniency so that Bai Suzhen could take the medicinal fungus and return home and save her husband.

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这时候，法海又来了，他把许仙骗到了金山寺。白素贞要救丈夫，水里的鱼虾蟹都来帮助她，水淹金山寺，逼法海放人。没想到却让老百姓遭了水灾。

zhèshíhòu ，Fǎhǎi yòu lái le ，tā bǎ Xǔ Xiān piàn dào le Jīnshānsì 。Bái Sùzhēn yào jiù zhàngfu ，shuǐ lǐ de yú xiā xiè dōu lái bāngzhù tā ，shuǐ yān Jīnshānsì ，bī Fǎhǎi fàngrén 。méixiǎngdào què ràng lǎobǎixìng zāo le shuǐzāi 。

At this time, Fa Hai returned again, and tricked Xu Xian into coming to Jinshan Temple. Bai Suzhen wanted to save her husband, and all the fish, shrimp and crabs of the water came to help her. Water inundated Jinshan Temple and compelled Fa Hai to give him up. However, unexpectedly, this caused a disastrous flood for the common people.

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公主很崇拜她的丈夫，一直都以为他是一位大英雄。其实他只是一个小裁缝，一个聪明而勇敢的小裁缝。

gōngzhǔ hěn chóngbài tā de zhàngfu ，yīzhí dōu yǐwéi tā shì yī wèi dà yīngxióng 。qíshí tā zhǐshì yī gè xiǎo cáiféng ，yī gè cōngming ér yǒnggǎn de xiǎo cáiféng 。

The princess adored her husband, thinking all the time that he was a great hero. But in truth, he was just a little tailor, a clever and courageous little tailor.

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阿姨不怕死，阿姨好想快点去陪儿子。儿子走后，我丈夫的身体也垮了。我们想给自己找个养老院，跑了好多家都不肯收我们，说需要儿女签字。

āyí bù pà sǐ ，āyí hǎo xiǎng kuài diǎnr qù péi érzi 。érzi zǒu hòu ，wǒ zhàngfu de shēntǐ yě kuǎ le 。wǒmen xiǎng gěi zìjǐ zhǎo gè yǎnglǎoyuàn ，pǎo le hǎo duō jiā dōu bùkěn shōu wǒmen ，shuō xūyào érnǚ qiānzì 。

I don't fear death. I'd like to join my son soon. After our son passed away, my husband's body also became frailer. I want to check the two of us into a nursing home. We've visited a lot of places but none will take us because they say we need kids to sign the papers.

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法律规定：男人22岁才能结婚，可是18岁就能当兵。这说明了3个问题：一是杀人比做丈夫容易；二是过日子比打仗难；三是女人比敌人更难对付。

fǎlǜ guīdìng ：nánrén èrshíèr suì cái néng jiéhūn ，kěshì shíbā suì jiù néng dāng bīng 。zhè shuōmíng le sān gè wèntí ：yī shì shārén bǐ zuò zhàngfu róngyì ；èr shì guò rìzi bǐ dǎzhàng nán ；sān shì nǚrén bǐ dírén gèng nán duìfu 。

The law stipulates that men can't get married until they're 22 but they can join the army at 18. This raises three issues: first, that killing people is easier than becoming a husband, second, that it's harder to live your life than fight in wars, and third, that it's harder to run into a woman than an enemy.

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丈夫的妈妈，你叫她婆婆。

zhàngfu de māma ，nǐ jiào tā pópo 。

You call your husband's mother "po po."

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