by fits and starts

基本解释

The first thing to remember is that this is how science proceeds, by fits and starts and seemingly contradictory results that get resolved only by further study.
首先要牢记这就是科学的进程，那些时进时退并且看起来相互矛盾的结论只能通过进一步的研究才能得以解决；
Reading gis not the night five drum, is work by fits and starts.
读不在三更五鼓，功只怕一曝十寒。。
EXAMPLE: Since he was quite busy as a high school teacher and the father of two young children, the novelist wrote his first book by fits and starts.
这位小说家在写第一部小说时是位高中老师，又是两个小孩的父亲，平日相当忙碌，所以小说是断断续续写出来的。

Granted, this is government by fits and starts, hobbled by the whims of voters.
ECONOMIST: Lexington
He is a flesh-and-blood human being with a narrow, stubborn soul, surviving in fits and starts on this patch of land by the sea.
NEWYORKER: Town of Cats
That vastly changed media world will come in fits and starts, incremental steps that in some cases will be made by newcomers like Oxygen.
FORBES: The convergence gamble