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Castles are usually enormous structures requiring strong foundations and the use of heavy construction materials such as stone. If the foundations are not strong enough, the castle could collapse. The idea of building a castle in the air－with no foundation at all－is, of course, ridiculous. That is why this idiom is used to describe ideas that are not realistic, as if they are dreams or fantasies. So when someone describes a plan or course of action that we believe may be impossible to achieve, we tell him, "You're building castles in the air."
城堡通常是一個很大的建筑，需要有堅實的基礎，還要用到大量石頭之類的建筑材料。如果城堡的基礎不夠牢固，很可能會坍塌。建立在空中的城堡是沒有基礎的。因此，“在空中建城堡”當然是一個很荒謬的想法。因此，我們可以使用這個成語形容那些不太現實的想法——因為這種想法往往是夢想或幻想罷了。所以，當有人描述一個計劃或行動時，我們覺得那是不可能實現的，就可以告訴他：“你的想法就如空中樓閣一樣。”
A similar idiom is "building castles in the sand." We know that, on a beach, sand castles are inevitably and easily destroyed by the tide. They are not built to last a long time. So when we say someone is "building castles in the sand," we mean they are creating something that won't endure very long.
類似的一個成語是“在沙灘上建城堡。”我們知道，沙灘上的城堡不可避免地而且很容易被海浪摧毀，不可能持久。所以，我們說有人是“在沙灘上建城堡”，意思就是他們正在創造的東西持續不了多長時間。
注：本文譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，請勿轉載。
