Today’s Phrase If something goes ’down the pan’ or ’down the toilet’ it means it is wasted or ruined. 如果说某事 down the pan或者down the toilet,那么这件事肯定是泡汤了。
For example: Mike had great dreams of becoming a rock guitarist, but they went down the pan when he injured his hand. 麦克一直怀揣摇滚吉他手的梦想，但是他的手受伤了，梦想化为泡影。
I’m afraid all that careful preparation we did for Meerka’s surprise birthday party went down the pan when her sister told her about it. 我们为米尔卡的生日精心准备了一场惊喜派对，但她姐妹却走漏了风声。恐怕这一切要泡汤了。
He invested all his life’s savings in a beautiful, antique car but everything went down the pan when he crashed it the next day. 他耗费毕生精力保养着那台精美的老爷车，但现在全完了，因为那天他把车撞毁了。
Don’t confuse it with If something goes ’out of the frying pan, into the fire’, it means it goes from a bad situation into an even worse one. 如果说某事“out of the frying pan, into the fire”，跳出煎锅又掉入火坑，那么顾名思义，就是说事情越来越糟。
Studying for my MA was really difficult and stressful, but then I really went out of the frying pan into the fire when I graduated and realised there were no good jobs available. 读完文学硕士已是难上加难、压力如天，但是毕业后当我意识到还找不到一份好工作时，更如伤口上撒盐一般。
Interesting fact In British English, the word ’toilet’ can refer to the fixture itself or the room where it is installed, for which you will also hear the more colloquial words ’loo’, ’lav’ or ’john’. The slang word ’dunny’ is popular in Australia while Americans tend to prefer the more polite terms ’bathroom’ or ’restroom’. In the Philippines, the term of choice is the pleasant-sounding ’comfort room’, or ’CR’ for short. 在英式英语中，’toilet’一词即可表示方便的器具，也可表示厕所。通常你会听到更加口语化的表达，如："loo", "lav" 和 "john" 。澳大利亚人喜欢用"dunny"，而美国人更常用较为礼貌的词汇 ’bathroom’ 或 ’restroom’。其中菲律宾人的表达最为委婉，用“CR”代之，即“comfort room”一词。
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发表于 2012/11/25 16:43:00
