三天打鱼, 两天晒网

三天打鱼, 两天晒网 [sān tiān dǎ yú liǎng tiān shài wǎng]

1. ■ go fishing for three days and dry the nets for two; be like the fisherman who fishes for three days, and idles about for the next two days while his nets are drying; blow hot and cold; lack perseverance; play fast and loose; spend three days fishing and two days drying nets; work by fits and starts:

薛蟠也假说来上学, 不过是:“三天打鱼, 两天晒网” ... 却不见有一点进益。 Xue Pan hastened to register himself as a pupil. His school-going was, needless to say, a pretence -- “one day fishing and two days to dry the net” as they say -- and had nothing to do with the advancement of learning.