Jūnxùn shí, jiàoguān ràng wǒmen yuándì-tàbù le shí fēnzhōng.
During military training, the instructor had us mark time for ten minutes.
Tips
usage
Literally the drill command "mark time!". Figuratively it criticizes a person, team or economy that looks busy but goes nowhere. The opposite is 突飞猛进 "to advance by leaps and bounds".
