vain

He asked her again in the vain hope that he could persuade her to come(= it was impossible).

他又问了她一次，徒然指望着能说服她来。

A tight noseband is a vain attempt to disguise the fact that your horse is not ready for the things you are asking him to do.

紧的鼻革是徒劳的掩饰，它只能说明你的马没有准备好去做你要求他做的事情。

For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead.

如果他不希望那些死过的人还要复活，为亡者祈祷，便是一种多馀而糊涂的事。

Now grown up, for you; I am strong, and for you; I changed for you. I know it is all in vain!

现在长大了，为你；我坚强了，为你；我改变着，为你。只是我知道这一切都是徒然！

An attempt to preserve life in a state of neutrality and indifference, is unreasonable and vain.

试图保持生活的中立和淡漠，是不明智的，徒劳的。

All our efforts to persuade the old man to leave the dangerous house were in vain.

我们极力劝说那位老人离开那栋危房，老人就是不听。

We have been waiting for her to come back to see us, but (we have been waiting) in vain.

我们一直在等她回来看望我们，但我们白等了。【高考链接】

The United States attorney-general is suing her as she sits, in a vain attempt to make her dissolve herself into constituent companies.

美国联邦检察长此刻正在起诉她，要让她把新泽西公司分解成系列子公司，而她却还在坐童车，岂不徒劳？

A Ghanaian family took him in temporarily, and Kwasi waited in vain to hear from his aunt.

一个加纳家庭暂时收留了他。夸西等待姨母的消息，可杳无音信。

The two halves on the Korean Peninsula have been trying to get reunited for several decades yet in vain.

半个多世纪以来，朝鲜半岛南、北两国都宣称致力于朝鲜民族统一，但至今未果。

For want of a bit of incriminating proof was such a young, silent, vain crook as this to be allowed to escape?

难道为了缺少一点点证明他罪行的证据，就让这个年轻，不肯开腔，爱虚荣的骗子逃脱么？

He was a man of a good and kindly nature, a little vain and self-important, but earnest and upright, and possessed of very fair abilities.

柯林斯为人善良仁慈，虽然有点虚荣心和自大，但办事认真直率，能力很强。

I spent so much time on her, but it was all in vain.

我在她身上花了那麽多时间，但是完全白费了。

Nowadays, you go around like this but it is certain to be refused everywhere. It is in vain for you to hold a great ambition.

以你目前这个模样，却想到处传播你的儒学思想，肯定是处处碰壁，徒有满腔热情也是枉然的。

'Oh, if she's vain, Billy Smallbury, I'll never be able to look at her! I'm such a shy man, as you know! 'said the other.

唉，比利·斯摩伯里，要是她很自以为是，我就连正眼看她也不敢了！你知道，我是一个害羞的人！

Paddy jumped to his feet, his face stupefied; he had never heard Fee take the name of the Lord in vain before.

帕迪跳起来了，他的面容发呆。从前他从未听见菲这样漫不经心地亵渎上帝的圣名。

Last week, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the media mogul was engaged in a vain attempt to "put the genie back in the bottle" .

上周，Twitter创办人之一BizStone称，这位传媒巨头是在反其道而行之，这种行为无异于把放出来的精灵重新放回神灯中一样毫无意义。

Schumacher almost edged Barrichello into the pit wall as he tried in vain to stop his former team mate passing him for P10 late in the race.

大舒马赫几乎将巴里切罗挤到PIT墙，他企图阻止他的前队友在上周的比赛中超过他获得第十。

But others, which were preserved naturally in dry sand, prove the product must also have been used in everyday life by the vain Egyptians.

但是另一些在干燥的沙子中自然保存的木乃伊，可以证明爱美的埃及人在日常生活中也一定使用这种产品。

Often I even, in vain, desire to turn the mirror upside down and seek my own glory.

我常常甚至是徒劳地希望把镜子倒过来，寻求自己的荣耀。