Needle in a Haystack——大海撈針

** extreme difficulty of finding a small, hidden object in a vast and disorganized space; a difficult task that is almost impossible to accomplish

~~ 大海撈針；海裡撈針；海底摸針；海底針；某物極難找到；草堆中尋針；乾草堆裡找針。

~~ wild goose chase; chasing rainbows; a shot in the dark; a drop in the ocean; a drop in the lake; a crumb in the bakery; mission impossible; fool's errand

!! St. Thomas More in 1532 wrote: “To seek out one line in all St. Austin's works were to go look （for） a needle in a meadow.”

St. Thomas More 在一五三二年寫道：“在 St. Austin的所有作品中尋找一行字，就好比在草地尋找一枝針。”

!! James Calfhill used“a pin's head in a cartload of hay” in 1565.

James Calfhill 在一五六五年使用了“一車乾草中的一根針頭”。

!! Miguel de Cervantes (1547 to 1616) wrote in Don Quixote:“As well look for a needle in a bottle (early form of bundle) of hay”.“Haystack” took over “hay” about the middle of the 19th century.

Miguel de Cervantes（一五四七—一六一六）在 Don Quixote 中寫道：“不妨在乾草瓶（早期紥的方式）中尋找一根針”。用“haystack（乾草堆）”頂替了“hay（乾草）”大約是十九世紀中期。

>> Finding accurate information in today's flood of social media misinformation can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.

在當今社交媒體錯誤訊息氾濫的環境中, 仍能尋找到準確資訊就像大海撈針。

>> With thousands of resumes flooding every job posting, landing your dream job in this economy is like finding a needle in a haystack.

每個招聘資訊都會收到成千上萬份履歷，在當前的經濟狀況下，找到理想工作就像大海撈針。

學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文 教授