The english we speak(BBC教學)第253期:Down the pan 泡湯了

When things are not going as planned, we can say they've gone 'down the pan', but which pan is it? Find out from Neil.

當事情沒有按計劃進行時，我們可以稱這種情況爲“泡湯了”，但是是哪種鍋？請聽尼爾解釋。

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

注：音頻與文本並不完全對應。

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

海倫：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目。我是海倫，今天和我一起主持節目的是尼爾。

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

尼爾：大家好。你知道我最好的朋友傑夫嗎，就是那個紀錄片製片人？

Helen: Oh yeah.

海倫：哦，我知道。

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

尼爾：他有一個非常棒的故事，他想拍攝英國最昂貴的婚禮並製作成紀錄片。

Helen: Really? So what happened? Has he finished it?

海倫：真的嗎？那然後呢？他製作完成了嗎？

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

尼爾：他原定在週六拍攝婚禮。可是昨天他突然接到了新娘的電話。

Helen: Don't tell me the wedding is off.

海倫：別告訴我說婚禮取消了。

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

尼爾：沒錯。他完成了所有辛苦的準備工作，可是現在一切都泡湯了。

Helen: Went down the pan? What pan?

海倫：掉到平底鍋裏了？什麼平底鍋？

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!

尼爾：這是一種表達方式，我們用這種非正式表達來形容發生了不幸的事。這裏並不是指烹飪用的平底鍋。其實說的是馬桶！

Helen: The toilet! Oh yuck!

海倫：馬桶！真噁心！

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:

尼爾：想象一下，你衝馬桶時，把所有的東西都衝進了管道。down the pan就是這個意思，一切都沒了！完全就是個災難！下面請聽例句：

Examples

例句

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

傑森曾夢想成爲足球選手，可是他的腿骨折以後他的夢想也泡湯了。

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.

我擔心如果傑瑪的哥哥告訴她有關驚喜生日派對的事，那我們爲她的派對進行的一切精心準備都泡湯了。

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

他馬上要搬進新家，可是昨晚的一場火毀了他的房子，一切都完了。

Helen: I get it. If things are going completely wrong and a lot of effort is wasted we can use the phrase 'down the pan'.

海倫：我明白了。如果事情徹底出錯，之前所做的努力就都白費了，這時我們就可以使用這個短語。

Neil: That's right. Er, Helen, I think you forgot to press the record button on this programme.

尼爾：沒錯。不過海倫，我想你忘了按錄製節目的按鈕。

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

海倫：哦，不！這真是個災難。尼爾，你介意重新錄這期節目嗎？

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

尼爾：（嘆氣）海倫，這意味着我的休息時間泡湯了。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. be about to do sth. 即將（做…）的；快要（發生…）的；
例句：The colossal passenger shipis about toset sail.
這艘巨型客輪馬上就要出航了。
2. be due to do sth. 到期的；預期的；預定到達的；
例句：The train for Shanghaiis due toarrive at eight.
去上海的火車八點到站。
3. be off 取消；中止；
例句：The matchis offbecause of a waterlogged pitch.
由於場地積水太多比賽被取消了。
4. refer to 指的是；
例句：The past continuous is often used torefer toa temporary situation.
過去進行時也常用以表示暫時的形勢。
5. be ready to do sth. 準備好的；勝任的；
例句：I asked her if shewas ready togo and she nodded.
我問她是否已準備好可以走了，她點點頭。
6. go wrong （情況）出岔子，出差錯；
例句：She tends to over-react when thingsgo wrong.
事情一有差錯她往往反應過激。