wild goose chase

基本解释

The boss sent me on a wild goose chase that wasted half the day.
老板給了我一項成功無望的任務，浪費了我大半天的時間。
baike.ef.com.cn
The Afghan strategy review has been too public and taken too long; the Middle East peace hunt has become a wild goose chase.
阿富汗戰略廻顧過於高調竝耗時過長，尋求中東和平的努力變得徒勞無功。
Why haven't authorities, having spent millions of dollars, including a lot spent on the wild goose chase after Hatfill, been able to even identify the source of the anthrax ?
美國政府已經花費掉數百萬美元了，其中包括在哈特費爾之後的一些荒謬無益的做法，爲什麽到現在還沒有權威的部門來識別炭疽（病）的來源呢？

Orlando is still after Angelica, but with Alcina's help, he's sent off on a wild goose chase.
NPR: Love And Lunacy: Vivaldi's 'Orlando Furioso'
For half an hour, Rousselot walked around in the vicinity, wondering if the woman who lived with Morini had sent him on a wild goose chase, until eventually he began to feel tired and headed for the port.
NEWYORKER: Álvaro Rousselot’s Journey
Richter's diary recounts how Elgar told him that there was no thematic link to the variations, but that since they were finished on April 1st, Elgar had resolved to start a wild goose chase by pretending that there was.
ECONOMIST: Historical mendacity: Japes of the great

If you are on a wild goose chase, you waste a lot of time searching for something that you have little chance of finding, because you have been given incorrect information.