The English We Speak-英语听力和口语训练

　　Summary
　　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.
　　Transcript
　　Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.
　　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? Has he finished it?
　　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
　　Went down the pan? What pan?
　　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
　　The toilet! Oh yuck!
　　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
　　I get it. If things are going completely wrong and a lot of effort is wasted we can use the phrase 'down the pan'.
　　Neil
　　That's right. Er, Helen, I think you forgot to press the record button on this programme.
　　Helen
　　Oh no. What a disaster. Neil, would you mind re-recording this?
　　Neil
　　(Sigh). Helen, that's my tea break down the pan.