Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

Have you ever seen a magician pull a rabbit out of the hat? In fact, I have seen a magician pull a dove out of the box.

Now, in English, pull a rabbit out of the hat is an idiom. I don't think it's interchangeable with a dove out of the box. I've never heard of that used as an idiom.

Anyhow, pull a rabbit out the hat is generally used when someone does something unexpected that improves a difficult situation. In a nutshell, it means to "get magical results" or "solve a problem as if by magic".

Let's say, your company is in real trouble. It's going bankrupt, unless the management can pull a rabbit out of the hat. The company survived because the management was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Now, would you like to try a quiz? I'll give you three options, please listen carefully and choose the one that is CORRECT. Ready?

When you manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat, you're likely to be:
1. in trouble.
2. out of trouble.
3. finished.