徒劳无功

    Wild goose是“大雁”，wild goose chase是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: Have you found anything?

    B: Not really. We did the experiment four times, but each time the results are different, so we have no significant data.

    A: I hope this whole thing is not a wild goose chase.

    Note: The idiom, first recorded in “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare in 1592, means a “hopeless quest.” To understand it, just imagine an attempt to catch a wild goose by chasing after it. Our understanding of the term differs from that in use in Shakespeare’s day. The earlier meaning related not to hunting but to horse racing. A “wild goose chase” was a chase in which horses followed a lead horse at a set distance, mimicking wild geese flying in formation. The present meaning was recorded in the 19th century. The 1978 action movie “The Wild Geese” alluded to the phrase in its title.