They do not want to expend energy in what, to them, is a lost cause.

他们不想把精力投到他们认为注定不会成功的事中去。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

Sensing a lost cause, he changed tactics.

当他意识到损失出现时，他改变了策略。

youdao

Finding love where you labor is never a lost cause.

在你工作地方寻找爱不是注定要失败的。

youdao

If that's not a novelist's description of what a lost cause is I've never read one.

这就是一个小说家所描述的失败的代价,我从未读到过更贴切的说法了

耶鲁公开课 - 美国内战与重建课程节选

Her answer was this and it's got something to do with how a lost cause took hold too but she said, "Southerners love a good tale.

她是这么回答的,同时也解释了为何南方人始终无法释怀,她说,"南方人钟爱精彩的故事

耶鲁公开课 - 美国内战与重建课程节选

"New York is a lost cause, " said Stephanie Steward, vice chair of the Penn College Republicans.

CNN: UPenn students have electoral power

Son knows that at this point boosting Softbank's market value in Japan is probably a lost cause.

FORBES: Overreaction

Getting my bag and my guitar was a lost cause, and I had no place to sleep.

WSJ: Traveler's Tale: On the Road Again, and Again, So Help Me