这句话翻译成英文怎么合适？

Question

学如初出之苗,不见其增,日有所长;惰如磨刀之石,不见其损,日有所亏。

Answer 1

Learning is like a tiny sprout, it's growing inconspicuously;
Laziness is like a grind stone, it's depleting unwittingly.

楼上的lonesomeguy翻译得很好, 也很整齐, 不过我觉得, unnoticed有忽视之意, 但人往往有贪功之心, 肯定密切关注学习的成效, 因此, 还是用inconspicuously更恰当.

另外, 生长和磨损都是一个持续进行的状态, 是不是用进行时更生动呢?

Answer 2

Learning is like a budding seedling, it grows unnoticed; Laziness is like a grinding stone, it deteriorates unnoticed.