跟 close the books 类似，除了本身结账的意思，还用于其他寓意，at sea 除了可以用本来的意思“在海上”，还可以用来比喻不知所措或混乱的状态，可以意为“不知所措，混乱”等，所以翻译的时候，一定要根据具体的上下文，寓意：
It means to be confused or not understand something at all.
意思是困惑或者完全不明白。
A state of complete disorder.
完全混乱的状态。
例如：
I was at sea when he started discussing quantum physics during dinner.
晚饭时他开始讨论量子物理学时，我茫然不知所措。
If you had never seen a telly ad, you would be all at sea with popular culture.
如果你从没看过电视广告，你就搞不懂什么是大众文化。
When the teacher asked him a question about the subject, he was at sea.
当老师问他一个关于这门学科的问题时，他茫然不知所措。
Even the judge was at sea listening to the unreasonable requests from the plaintiff and his lawyers.
就连法官也在听原告及其律师的无理要求时感到不知所措。
A medical professional sometimes gets a case that would put him at sea, at such time he would himself recommend a second opinion.
一个医学专家有时会遇到一个让他不知所措的病例，这时他会自己提出第二种意见。
学习英语习语的另一个难点是我们容易被习语的表面意思所迷惑，所以在具体的阅读或是应试过程中，我们可以用替代的方法来找出适合具体上下文的习语的意思。这其实也是学习英语的一种方法，即用你所熟悉的其他表达方式或是意思来替代给你造成困扰的表达方式或意思。
