dead duck

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++ˌdead ˈduck noun  a dead duck informalFAIL a plan, idea etc that is not worth considering because it is very likely to fail 无价值的事物；很可能失败的计划[主意] He admitted that the whole project was a dead duck. 他承认整个计划毫无价值。

Examples from the Corpus

dead duck• Whether voters are bored, confused or scared of losing popular services, it seems to be a dead duck.• Recruiting outsiders is a dead duck for the moment; another five years of failure and the time may yet come.• Competition climbing is laughable in this country, and is probably a dead duck anyway.• In April Harold Wilson admitted what everyone else already knew: the Bill was a dead duck.

ˌdead ˈduck nounChineseSyllable  

that Corpus etc idea is plan, a not

dead duck
ˌdead ˈduck noun
a dead duck informal a plan, idea etc that is not worth considering because it is very likely to fail:
    He admitted that the whole project was a dead duck.