“华而不实的东西”怎么说？

　　White elephant 华而不实的东西

　　(Finn and Feifei on a visit to the zoo)

　　Feifei: Hi. Im Feifei and joining us here in the zoo to present Authentic Real English is Finn.

　　Finn: Hello.

　　Feifei: Whats the matter, Finn? 怎么不高兴呢?动物园这么多动物，多好看呀!

　　Finn: Yes, I love animals too. But I dont know what Im going to do with that white elephant .

　　Feifei: 你不知道应该如果应对 a white elephant? 你是说远处的那头白象?

　　Finn: No. The one my uncle is giving me.

　　Feifei: 什么?你叔叔送你一头象?

　　Finn: He is moving to South Africa and hes giving away some of his things.

　　Feifei: 如果我要搬到南非的话，估计我也会把带不走的东西都送人。可是你真打算养一头大象吗 Finn?

　　Finn: Thats the problem. I am not. Well, it is beautiful

　　Feifei: 是呀，大象长得太好看了。

　　Finn: and it is powerful

　　Feifei: 非常健壮。

　　Finn: But it needs too much petrol!

　　Feifei: 汽油?给大象喝?

　　Finn: Yes. Old sports cars need a lot of petrol, you know.

　　Feifei: 就说嘛，吓死我了。我以为你要给大象喝汽油。Finn 是说跑车很费油。

　　Finn: Yes, of course! It wasnt talking about an actual elephant.

　　Feifei: 你听，大象也松了一口气。

　　Finn: Yes, he did. In English, when you call something a white elephant, you mean its large, costs a lot of money to keep and has no useful purpose.

　　Feifei: 我们用 white elephant 这个短语来描述贵而无用的，华而不实的东西。不过我知道你喜欢骑自行车，跑车对你来说用处不太大吧。

　　Finn: Thats right. Lets listen to some examples of how to use this expression.

　　Ive paid a lot of money for this posh designer dress that I never use. It is a white elephant!

　　The new airport is a white elephant! Its got four runways and its equipped with the latest technology, but not many people visit this region.

　　Feifei: White elephant 还可以用来描述一样看起来漂亮，但是在实际生活中浪费空间的东西 。

　　Finn: Thats right.

　　Feifei: 所以说呀，这些华而不实的玩意儿可远远比不上动物园里这些大象的人气。

　　Finn: Feifei, shall we go and have a look?

　　Feifei: 好的，咱们去看看可爱的大象们 and these are certainly not white elephants! Bye.

　　Finn: Bye.