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《罗密欧与朱丽叶》讲的是年轻人的爱情故事，不过，剧中也有很多冲突、斗争的场面，有些是用武器，有些是用文字。在剧中，莎士比亚把罗密欧和茂丘西奥之间的言辞交战比作疯狂又危险的赛马，并将其称作 wild-goose chase。而现在，这个短语跟马或者鹅都无关，那么 wild-goose chase 被用来描述哪类情景呢？
Narrator
It was early in the evening. William Shakespeare is at home. He's expecting a visit from his actor friend Robert Harley.
Robert Harley
Good evening, Mr Shakespeare.
Will
Welcome, welcome Robert! Come in.
Daughter
Good evening Mister Harley…
Robert Harley
Miss Shakespeare… I'm sorry I’m late - I was out horse riding. It was wonderful - so fast, so exciting!
Will
Ahhh, the wild-goose chase! Take care when you race that way young Robert, we don't want to spoil those good looks of yours…
Daughter
Why is it called a wild-goose chase? It's a horse race! They're not chasing geese!
Will
Dear daughter, a wild-goose chase is indeed a kind of horse race. The riders have to follow one horse, keeping up with him wherever he goes, just as wild geese follow the leader when they fly.
Daughter
Ohhh… I expect you kept up with him very well, Robert…!
Will
Thank you, daughter. Now to the play: Romeo and Juliet. Robert, you are playing Mercutio, Romeo's best friend. In this scene, there is a different kind of wild-goose chase. This chase is all about words and jokes. Mercutio and Romeo are competing with each other: each of them trying to tell the cleverest and funniest jokes.
Robert
A competition of intelligence, of wits and quick thinking!
Daughter
Mercutio will win, won't he!? He is handsome - and clever!
Will
Mercutio is indeed quick-witted, but Romeo is better - much better, and Mercutio knows it - so he gives up this wild-goose chase before it even starts, saying: Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase…
Robert as Mercutio
Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done,
for thou hast more of the wild goose in one of
thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five.
Narrator
We'll leave them there for now. Romeo and Juliet is a play about young love, but it also has lots of fighting, with both weapons and words. Here, Shakespeare compares Romeo and Mercutio's duelling with words to a wild and dangerous horse race, called a wild-goose chase. In modern English, a wild-goose chase isn't about horses, or geese: it describes a situation where you foolishly chase after something that is impossible to get - or doesn't exist at all. Take US writer Bryant McGill, who said:
Clip 1
Endless consumerism sends us on a wild-goose chase for happiness through materialism.
Clip 2
We looked for the restaurant for hours, but it was a wild-goose chase: turned out that it closed down years ago!
Robert
So, no wild-goose chase for Mercutio.
Daughter
You could chase me, though Robert…
Robert
Oh dear… to chase, or not to chase: that really isn't a question.
Edited by: geilien.cn
wild-goose chase n. 荒谬无益之追求，行踪不定的路线;白费力，徒劳无益的追求.
1.We wasted all day on a wild-goose chase.
我们徒劳无功的浪费了一整天。c
2.You're led on a wild goose chase if you are going to look for an apartment in the papers.
如果你指望通过报纸找到公寓，那是白费劲。
3.He's asking us to fund a wild goose chase.
他让我们掏钱做赔本的买卖。
复数：wild-goose chases
看到短语“a wild-goose chase”，很让人想到那句歇后语“竹篮打水 —— 一场空”，意思是说，您忙活了半天，到最后一无所获，等于做了无用功。
就字面意而言，“（很难）追上一群大雁”确实符合现实情况。词源学家认为，“a wild-goose chase”（无益的追求）最早起源于赛马。
早在16世纪，所谓的“赛马场”是茂密的森林。赛马比赛规定，骑手们须在森林中紧追一匹“头马”，头马性格暴烈，奔跑时毫无路线规律可循。在追“头马”的过程中，很多骑手往往独陷林中，找不到归路。再加上这种赛马的阵形以“一马带路、群马尾随”为特色，与群雁飞翔颇为相似，人们就戏称当时的赛马为“a wild-goose chase”。