得不偿失

    Candle是“蜡烛”，not worth the candle是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: There is a free yoga session offered this afternoon. Are you interested?

    B: Where is it?

    A: In the gym near where we used to go to primary school.

    B: There is no convenient public transport to that area. I don’t want to walk so far on such a hot day. The game is not worth the candle.

    Note: Literally, the phrase means something is thought so lacking in merit that it isn’t worth the expense of a candle to create enough light to partake in it. Candles were as significant a drain on household expenses as is the electricity bill today. There are several phrases in English that express regret at having wasted valuable candlelight. This idiom, however, is of French origin. The first known printed record in English is in 1690: “Perhaps the play is not worth the candle.”