that ship has sailed

习语that ship has sailed这个短语用来指做某事或实现某事的机会已经失去或可能永远不会再获得了。再去做某事或说某事已经太迟了，这件事再发生的机会太渺茫了。

这个表达有几个类似的说法，包括 "missed the boat"、"that train has left the station"、"missed the bus" 等等。这三个短语都指的是同一个意思：某事为时已晚。

根据它字面的意思，想象一下，你正准备远航穿越大海。当你到达港口时，你发现船已经开走了。船开走后你是没有办法追上它的，因此你也就失去了远航的机会。它表达的情感就是，机会已经消失了，现在再做什么都已经迟了，因此不应费心尝试。

例句：

I just called to order the cake, and the bakery said that it is too late for us to get a custom cake. So even though we wanted to get a cake with our company's logo on it, that ship has sailed. We'll just have to buy one off the shelf.

我刚打电话定做蛋糕，面包店说我们来不及做一个定制蛋糕了。所以，尽管我们想要一个印有公司标志的蛋糕，也为时已晚。我们只能从货架上买一个现成的了。