8. Wild Goose Chase: 复杂又无果的追寻或搜索；徒劳无果

How Shakespeare used it:

In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio likens the rapid exchange of jokes between Romeo and himself to the cross-country horse race of Shakespeare's time, known as the wild goose chase, in which any number of riders tried to keep up with and accurately follow the lead rider's course:

"Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done; for thou / hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I / have in my whole five." (Act 2, Scene 4)

莎士比亚原文：在《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中，马库修将他和罗密欧之间机智的笑话比拼比做莎士比亚时期的跨境赛马，即“追野鹅”，比赛中所有骑手都要尽力追上并精准跟随在骑手领袖的阵型中：“不行啊，如果咱们俩的智商比拼像追野鹅那样的话，我就完蛋了，因为你任何一个智慧阵型中的野鹅都比我全部5个阵型里的多。”（第2幕第4场）

现代例句：

"Seriously just went on a wild goose chase for a place to study. Everything is packed so I found an empty classroom in the math building." — TheHeartquake on Twitter, May 11, 2009