釋義：

Wild: 狂熱的，野生的；goose：鵝；chase： 追逐，追趕；

字面來看，wild goose chase是野生的鵝的追逐，那實際是什么意思呢？

In English: Pursuing something that seems to be pointless or unattainable.意思就是說：追逐一些無意義或者很難辦到的事情；

來源：

It's believed that this phrase's origin is rooted in some type of 16th century horse racing.

傳說這個slang的來源與16世紀的賽馬比賽有關(guān)。a horse race in which the lead rider would be pursued by other riders, which is said to be similar to how geese flying in a formation will follow the one in the lead.

在賽馬時，跑在最前面的馬會被其他馬追趕，這和鵝群追趕跑在最前面的鵝一樣。追趕領(lǐng)跑者，很有可能因為追不上而失敗，那么就用wild goose chase指代徒勞無益的追求。

舉例：

1.王小二人長得丑，但是一直以來的夢想都是做一個演員，那么他的夢想就很有可能實現(xiàn)不了，那么我們就可以說

His scheme of being a movie star is a wild-goose chase.

他想成為電影明星的計劃可以說是希望渺茫。

2.比如說你的貓找不到了，你找遍了屋里所有地方都沒找著，但是最后發(fā)現(xiàn)它竟然在外面：

I was searching for my cat all over the house but I couldn't find her anymore, it really felt like I was on a wild goose chase. It turned out my cat was outside during the entirety of my search, no wonder I couldn't find her!