節(jié)目梗概：
好多事情都會(huì)因?yàn)橥话l(fā)因素不能進(jìn)行下去，英語(yǔ)中有句俗話 down the pan 特別 貼切。不過(guò)你知道這個(gè) pan 是指什么嗎？聽(tīng) Neil 來(lái)說(shuō)說(shuō)吧。

文字稿

（關(guān)于臺(tái)詞的備注: 這不是廣播節(jié)目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能沒(méi)有體現(xiàn)錄制、編輯過(guò)程中對(duì)節(jié)目做出的改變。）

Helen
Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English. I'm Helen and joining me today is Neil.

Neil
Hello everyone. You know my friend Jeff the documentary maker?

Helen
Oh yeah.

Neil
Well he had this great story he was about to make a film about - the most expensive wedding in the UK.

Helen
So what happened? Is it finished?

Neil
He was due to film the wedding on Saturday. Then yesterday, he got a call from the bride.

Helen
Don't tell me the wedding is off. 

Neil
It is. After all that hard work, everything just went down the pan.

Helen
Gone down the pan? 掉到了平底鍋里面？這是什么意思？What do you  mean?

Neil
It's an expression we use informally to say something disastrous has happened. It's not the cooking pan we are referring to here. It’s actually the toilet!

Helen
不會(huì)吧，你說(shuō)的這個(gè)pan 原來(lái)不是指平底鍋，而是指抽水馬桶 toilet。聽(tīng)著就覺(jué)得情況很糟糕了。  

Neil
Just imagine, when you flush the toilet, everything gets washed down the pipe. That's what I mean – 'down the pan', everything's gone! Total disaster! Here are a few examples:

Examples
Jason had great dreams of becoming a football player, but they went down the pan when he broke his leg.

I'm afraid all that careful preparation we did for Jemma's surprise birthday party went down the pan when her brother told her about it.

He was ready to move into his new home, but everything went down the pan when the fire destroyed the house last night.

Helen
Yuck! 這么說(shuō)，如果什么事情本來(lái)進(jìn)行得很順利，突然出現(xiàn)意外而變得無(wú)法挽救，這種情況就可以用 down the pan 來(lái)表示。就像沖馬桶，全沒(méi)了。也就是我們說(shuō)的“泡湯了，完蛋了”。

Neil
That's right. Er, Helen, I think you forgot to press the record button in the studio.

Helen
Oh no. What a disaster. Neil, would you mind re-recording this?       

Neil
(Sigh). Helen, that's my tea break down the pan.