It was an attempt to wrong-foot the opposition.

这一举动为的是让对手措手不及。

《牛津词典》

The story was an attempt to smear the party leader.

这篇报道企图玷污该党领袖的声誉。

《牛津词典》

The statement was an attempt to squash the rumours.

这份声明旨在辟谣。

《牛津词典》

Two other traditions for welcoming the New Year are a midnight kiss and an attempt to sing a song that almost no one knows.

VOA: special.2009.12.28

Similarly, divination. Divination is an attempt to discern the future that, once again, heads right to the source of power.

类似的还有占卜术，占卜是一种试图看清未来的法术,它的终极目标，也是神力的源头。

耶鲁公开课 - 旧约导论课程节选

And early Christianity was an attempt to pull all these things into one unified movement, in some way, to get some kind of uniformity of belief and practice.

早期基督教试图,将这些组织成统一运动，以某种方式，以获得某种划一的信仰与行动。

耶鲁公开课 - 新约课程节选

An attempt to get Mr Reeves' diseased remaining kidney to work was also doomed.

BBC: GMC told of op x-ray mistake

Given the cost of building ever larger sea walls, there is an attempt to harness Nature's own defences.

BBC: Legacy of Britain's great flood

It could be an attempt to play to the country's powerful military, to win its support.

NPR: Few Clues Emerge to N. Korean Leader's Motivations