可还是杯水车薪远远不够
“Yet it was still far from enough.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
又四处奔走举债
“I sold my ancestral home and land, then traveled around to borrow money.”
可还是 杯水车薪 远远不够
“Yet it was still far from enough.”
后来
“Later, when people heard about the plight of the Lishan scholars,”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
Chinese speakers frequently rely on four-character idioms like '杯水车薪' to vividly summarize profound inadequacy and emotional exhaustion.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
a drop in the bucket / futile effort
A very common Chengyu indicating that the available resources are far too small to solve a massive problem.
far from enough
Used for strong emphasis when a gap between requirement and reality is huge.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“Far from enough, though.”
“And we don't have enough money.”
“And there's usually a little bonus, right?”
“is really a bit insufficient.”
“Still not enough.”
“my luck wasn't that bad after all.”