8. Wild Goose Chase: 復(fù)雜又無果的追尋或搜索;徒勞無果
How Shakespeare used it:
In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio likens the rapid exchange of jokes between Romeo and himself to the cross-country horse race of Shakespeare's time, known as the wild goose chase, in which any number of riders tried to keep up with and accurately follow the lead rider's course:
"Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done; for thou / hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I / have in my whole five." (Act 2, Scene 4)
莎士比亞原文:在《羅密歐與朱麗葉》中,馬庫修將他和羅密歐之間機(jī)智的笑話比拼比做莎士比亞時(shí)期的跨境賽馬,即“追野鵝”,比賽中所有騎手都要盡力追上并精準(zhǔn)跟隨在騎手領(lǐng)袖的陣型中:“不行啊,如果咱們倆的智商比拼像追野鵝那樣的話,我就完蛋了,因?yàn)槟闳魏我粋€(gè)智慧陣型中的野鵝都比我全部5個(gè)陣型里的多?!保ǖ?幕第4場)
現(xiàn)代例句:
"Seriously just went on a wild goose chase for a place to study. Everything is packed so I found an empty classroom in the math building." — TheHeartquake on Twitter, May 11, 2009