carry coals to Newcastle多此一举，白费力气

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

England’s Newcastle—upon—Tyne was the first coal port in the world，the initial charter granted to the town for the digging of coal given by Henry Ⅲ in 1239．The fact that no one in his right mind would import coal into this coal—mining county gave rise in the nineteenth century to the expression to carry coals to Newcastle，“to do something superfluous，to take something where it is already plentiful．”The phrase has limited use in the United States．

英格兰的纽卡斯尔是世界上第一个产煤港。1239年，亨利三世最早将采煤的特许权授予给这个城市。在任何头脑正常的人看来，没有人会把煤运进这个产煤区。因此，在19世纪，就产生了“把煤运往纽卡斯尔”的说法，其意为“干多余的事；把东西运到已经充裕的地方”。此用语在美国使用非常有限。