Preview（腕試し）

Kintaro had a difficult time passing Eiken 1 (the Step Test), and he sometimes felt like giving up, but he kept at it and finally passed.

Kintaro:

A. continued to try hard to pass the test

B. stopped taking the test

C. stopped studying English

D. stayed up late into the night

　

Quick Glossary （用語辞典）

give up = あきらめる

diligence = 勤勉

Examples（例文）

This idiom means to keep doing something when you are working toward some goal, even if the task seems very difficult.

Henry finds learning Spanish difficult, but he keeps at it because he wants to live in Spain in the future.

It takes a lot of time and effort, but I've kept at my kanji studies because I want to be able to read a Japanese newspaper someday.

Exercises （練習）Type the proper form of the idiom in the box.

1. If you something for a long time, you will usually get the results you want.

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2. Keiko has her studies for a long time, and her diligence has paid off: she has better fluency and a much larger vocabulary than she did a few years ago.

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