white elephant

英 [ˌwaɪt ˈelɪfənt]

美 [ˌwaɪt ˈelɪfənt]

n.  昂贵而无用之物

牛津词典

noun

• 昂贵而无用之物
  a thing that is useless and no longer needed, although it may have cost a lot of money
  1. The new office block has become an expensive white elephant.
     这座新办公大楼成了昂贵的摆设。

柯林斯词典

• N-COUNT 昂贵而无用的东西;华而不实的东西
  If you describe something as awhite elephant, you mean that it is a waste of money because it is completely useless.
  1. The pavilion has become a £4 million steel and glass white elephant.
     这个耗资400万英镑、用钢与玻璃所构筑起的亭子已经成了一个华而不实的摆设。

英英释义

noun

• albinic Indian elephant
• a valuable possession whose upkeep is excessively expensive

双语例句

• In Thailand and India, a white elephant is regarded as a sacred animal.
  在泰国和印度，白象被视为神圣的动物。
• The new opera house will be a white elephant: it is too small for proper opera productions, and no large opera company will want to use it.
  这座新剧场将是无用而赘的东西：演出大型歌剧，它太小了，所以没有一家歌剧团愿意用它。
• That super size desk is a white elephant to his room.
  那张他房间里的超大书桌很大而无当。
• A motor-car would be a white elephant to him, because he can't drive it.
  摩托车对他一点用都没有，因为他不会驾驶。
• Not only that, due to clumsy government planning, when the sealink is finished it will be in danger of becoming a white elephant.
  不仅如此，由于政府笨拙的规划，当sealink大桥完工后，可能会成为白象那样的累赘之物。
• Who would have thought to meet a white elephant.
  谁会想到会遇到一头白象啊！
• We finally realized that that large house my father left us in the country was really a white elephant, because it was too expensive to run and we couldn't find a purchaser.
  我们最后发现我父亲在乡间留给我们那栋大房子实在是个累赘，因为太过昂贵无法经营，而且我们无法找到买主。
• White Elephant Gift Exchange: This is a gift exchange where everyone brings a gift, or just something around the house, that they didn't much care for.
  白象礼品交换：这个交换办法是这样的，每人都带来一件礼物或只是家里不太喜欢的某样东西来交换。
• The pavilion has become a £ 4 million steel and glass white elephant.
  这个耗资400万英镑、用钢与玻璃所构筑起的亭子已经成了一个华而不实的摆设。
• Some people say that monuments are a white elephant and a waste of money.
  有些人说建造那纪念碑实在是无意义的浪费钱。