make-work

英美

make-work 帮闲工作，无意义的工作

比喻用法。

make-work: 1913 (adj.); 1937 (n.), "busy-work, activity of no value," American English, from the verbal expression to make work (see make (v.) + work (n.)).
A big fire devoured a street; "It will make work," I heard my father say; a ship was lost at sea laden with silk, and leather, and cloth; "It will make work," said my father; a reservoir broke jail, and swept the heart of the town away. "It will make work," my mother said; so all human calamities were softened blessings to me; they made "work," and work made wages, and wages made bread and potatoes, and clothes for me. ["The Radical Review," Chicago, Sept. 15, 1883]

1. For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?: 我们活着是为了什么？不就是给邻居当笑柄，再反过来笑他们。

2. Sometimes things have to fall apart to make way for better things.: 有时候要到达谷底，才会慢慢变好。

3. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.: 人生就应该是快乐的，要抓住每一天，孩子们，让你们的生活变得非凡起来。

4. These large institutions make — and change—the rules to suit themselves.: 这些大机构总是随意制定规定，而且说变就变。