所谓的钓鱼工程是指在决策阶段被描述为造价很低、见效很快，但在实际建设过程中，建设单位不断变更资金预算，迫使投资部门不断追加投资，最终决算超预算、预算超概算、实际造价大大超出原先计划的那些工程。钓鱼工程可以翻译成boondoggle，也可以翻译成wasteful project或 black-hole project。

例句：

Critics are also increasingly viewing nation building in the mostly rural and tribal nation as a social engineering boondoggle.

—— Excerpt from Experts divided on whether US troops should pull out of Afghanistan 

But there's also a real threat that the infatuation with biofuels is a political expediency that will turn into a classic government boondoggle, benefiting selected constituencies and providing few genuine public benefits. That has already happened with corn.

—— Excerpt from Don't Be in Awe of Bush's Belief in Biofuels