全文 The whole story, with pinyin and English
今年，我开始跟王老师学拉二胡。
jīn nián wǒ kāi shǐ gēn Wáng lǎo shī xué lā èr hú
This year I started learning to play the erhu with Mr Wang.
刚开始的时候，我拉出来的声音又尖又难听，像在锯木头一样。
gāng kāi shǐ de shí hou wǒ lā chū lái de shēng yīn yòu jiān yòu nán tīng xiàng zài jù mù tou yí yàng
At the very beginning, the sound I made was shrill and horrible, like someone sawing wood.
妹妹捂着耳朵跑开了，我难过得想放弃。
mèi mei wǔ zhe ěr duo pǎo kāi le wǒ nán guò de xiǎng fàng qì
My little sister covered her ears and ran off, and I was so upset I wanted to give up.
王老师对我说：“只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针。”
Wáng lǎo shī duì wǒ shuō zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn
Mr Wang said to me, “Work hard enough and you can grind an iron rod into a needle.”
从那天起，我每天坚持练习半个小时，从来不偷懒。
cóng nà tiān qǐ wǒ měi tiān jiān chí liàn xí bàn gè xiǎo shí cóng lái bù tōu lǎn
From that day on, I kept practising for half an hour every day and never once skipped it.
慢慢地，我的琴声变得越来越好听了。
màn màn de wǒ de qín shēng biàn de yuè lái yuè hǎo tīng le
Little by little, my playing sounded better and better.
学期结束前，我在学校的音乐会上表演了一首《茉莉花》。
xué qī jié shù qián wǒ zài xué xiào de yīn yuè huì shàng biǎo yǎn le yì shǒu mò lì huā
Before the end of term, I played “Jasmine Flower” at the school concert.
台下响起了热烈的掌声，我终于明白了坚持的意义。
tái xià xiǎng qǐ le rè liè de zhǎng shēng wǒ zhōng yú míng bai le jiān chí de yì yì
Warm applause rang out from the audience, and at last I understood what it means to keep going.