Practice Makes Perfect

Chen Yau-tz, of the Sung dynasty, was a very talented archer. He hit the bull's eye every time, and so everyone called him "The Magic Archer." Chen Yau-tz felt that he was the best archer in the world, and so he was very proud.

One day, as Chen was shooting arrows, a man selling oil passed by, and stood watching him for a long time. "You know something about archery?", Chen Yau-tz asked the man. "Look at how well I shoot!" The man replied, "That's nothing, all it takes is practice." This made Chen Yau-tz very angry, and he asked, "Dare you underestimate my skill as an archer?" Saying nothing, the man took a bottlenecked gourd, placed it on the ground, and put a coin with a square hole in the center over the top. He poured toil from a wooden ladle drop-by-drop into the gourd, without spilling a sinle drop on the coin. The man then turned to Chen Yau-tz and said, "That was also nothing. It's just a matter of practice makes perfect."

Thus, the meaning of this idiom is that skill comes from repeated practice.

熟能生巧

陳堯咨是宋朝人，他很會射箭，每次都能射到紅心，所以大家稱他神箭手，他認為世界上沒有人能比得上他，因此非常驕傲。

有一天，他正在射箭，有一個賣油的走過來，放下擔子，斜著眼看他射箭，看了好久，沒說甚麼，只是微微地點頭。

陳堯咨看到賣油的樣子，心裡有點兒不高興，就問賣油的說：「你也懂得射箭嗎？看我射得多準！」賣油的說：「這沒甚麼，只是手熟罷了。」陳堯咨聽了，認為賣油的看不起他，就很生氣地大聲說：「你怎麼敢輕視我的箭術呢？」賣油的不說一句話，隨手拿出一個葫蘆放在地上，用一個方孔的銅錢蓋在葫蘆口上慢慢地用木杓子裝滿了油滴下去，只見油從錢孔中滴進去，可是銅錢上面一點兒油也沒有沾上，這時賣油的才說：「我這也沒甚麼，只是熟能生巧罷了。」