時(shí)差N小時(shí):枉費(fèi)心機(jī) Go Down The Drain

　　If you want to fill a sink or bathtub with water, youneed to do one thing first and that's stopper or plugup the drainpipe. Later, when you unplug thestopper, the used water will go rushing out down thedrain. Hopefully, nothing valuable (such as adiamond ring) will be in that water, because afterthe water flows down the drain, it is gone forever.Anything that was mistakenly dropped into the waterwill therefore also disappear down the drain, andthen it will be very difficult-probably impossible-toget it back.

　　如果你想把水槽或浴缸放滿水，你需要做的第一件事這就是用塞子之類(lèi)的東西堵住排水管。然后，當(dāng)你拔掉塞子之后，用過(guò)的水就會(huì)漏進(jìn)下水道里。我們都希望不要有什么貴重的東西(比如鉆戒)掉在水里——因?yàn)樗鬟M(jìn)下水道之后，這些貴重東西永遠(yuǎn)也找不回來(lái)了。任何掉在水里的東西將最終落入下水道里——這將非常困難——恐怕不可能——把它找回來(lái)了。

　　From the sad reality of losing a cherished object down a sink or bathtub drain comes thisidiom, meaning to do or attempt to do something that ultimately will be lost forever. It canalso mean to put great effort into a wasted activity.

　　通過(guò)這個(gè)直觀的解釋?zhuān)覀兝斫饬诉@個(gè)成語(yǔ)。它的意思是“做或試圖做一些最終將永遠(yuǎn)失去的事情”。同時(shí)，它還含有“將巨大的努力浪費(fèi)在無(wú)用的事情上”的意思。