形容学习非常刻苦to study extremely hard; to cut a hole in the wall to steal light

• 在接下来的四年大学生活中，他更加刻苦，虽算不得凿壁偷光却也是铁砚磨穿。

  In the next four years of university life, he studied even harder. Although he did not go to the extremes of "cutting a hole in the wall to steal light", he did "wear through an iron inkstone".