This idiom is used to describe when someone puts in effort or goes looking for something

Once 一次 upon 在……之上；关于；在……之后 a time, a little 小的 cat decided 决定的 to go fishing 钓鱼 in the river 河流 . She brought 带来（bring 的过去式和过去分词） a big bucket and a shiny 闪亮的 net. She spent 花费 the whole 整个的 afternoon swinging 摇摆 her 她的 net back and forth 向前 in the water. She worked 工作过 very hard 硬的；困难的 and got 得到 very tired. However 然而 , she chose 选择（choose 的过去式） a spot 斑点 where the water was 是（过去式） too shallow 浅的 and no fish lived 居住过 there 那里 . When the sun began 开始（过去式） to set, she looked 看了 into her 她的 bucket and saw 锯子 only 只有 a few 很少 wet 湿的 leaves 叶子 and a small stone 石头 . She didn't 没有 catch 抓住 a single 单个的 fish. She had 有（过去式） to walk home with 和……一起；带有；具有 her 她的 empty 空的 bucket because she had 有（过去式） gained 获得 nothing at all from her 她的 long day of 的 work.