对数百万失业者来说，通货膨胀率的微降是不起作用的安慰。

A small drop in the inflation rate was cold comfort for the millions without a job.

《牛津词典》

B厂家的控制台是不起作用的。

Manufacturer B's console would not work.

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而这暗示了印度的禁令是不起作用的。

That suggests the Indian ban isn’t working.

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Normally, we do these things to keep an equilibrium among the different systems of the unconscious, but sometimes it doesn't work.

一般来说，我们会运用这些机制,去维持无意识系统的平衡，但有时防御机制也会不起作用。

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选

Sometimes things go awry and what happens is a phrase that's not currently used in psychology but was popular during Freud's time: hysteria.

当防卫机制不起作用时,就会造成一种病症,其名称在如今的心理学领域已经不常用到,但在弗洛伊德的时代,这是个非常流行的名称：,这就是癔症。

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选

Because positive psychology may mean that we are only focusing on the positive and what works, ignoring all the rest that are not.

因为积极心理学可能表示,我们只聚焦于积极的起作用的部分，忽略其余不起作用的。

哈佛公开课 - 幸福课课程节选