“chasing your tail”表达是什么意思？

    今天小航带大家来认识一些与chase相关的英文短语，chase [tʃeɪs]

    v. 追赶; 追逐; 追捕; 努力获得; 争取得到; 追求; 求爱; 催促; 急奔; 镂刻;

    n. 追赶; 追捕; 追逐; 努力获得; 争取; 打猎;

    [例句]The bigger girls used to chase me and tickle me.

    比我高大的女孩过去总是追赶着胳肢我。

    1.那么chase your tail 是什么意思？

    当如果有人说你 chase your tail，

    意思是：busy doing a lot of things ，but achieving very little，

    忙着做很多事，却收效甚微，

    也就是“瞎忙，白忙，徒劳无功。”

    举个例子

    I've been chasing my tail on this project ,

    because so many components of it are just not working out.

    我一直在瞎忙活，这个项目的很多部分都没用。

    2.  wild-goose chase

    goose 指的是“大鹅”，“追逐野生大鹅” wild-goose chase 或 wild goose chase 的意思与chase your tail的意思相似：

    a complicated or lengthy and usually fruitless pursuit or search，

    复杂或漫长且通常无结果的追求或寻找，

    “白费力气的搜寻；徒劳之举”。

    举个例子

    After two hours spent wandering in the snow,

    I realized we were on a wild goose chase.

    在雪中转了两小时之后，我意识到我们是在白费力气。

    3.cut to the chase

    cut to the chase 的意思是：to talk about or deal ,

    with the important parts of a subject and not waste time ,

    with things that are not important，

    也就是直接说重点，不浪费时间在不重要的事上，“开门见山；直奔主题。”

    举个例子

    I didn't have long to talk so I cut to the chase and asked whether he was still married.

    我的时间不多，

    所以我开门见山地问他是否还是已婚人士。

    4. chase rainbows

    chase rainbows 指的是 to pursue goals that are unrealistic,

    fanciful, or unlikely to happen，

    追求不现实的、幻想的或不可能发生的目标。

    举个例子

    You can't chase rainbows your whole life—you need to pick a stable

    career and start being an adult.

    你不能一辈子追逐不切实际的梦想，

    你需要选择一个稳定的职业，开始做一个成年人。