第1365期: The 'Burn Everything' Policy

Today, we talk about burning and the effects of extreme heat. There is a special word for this. Scorch is a damaged area or mark that is caused by burning.今天，我们谈论燃烧和极端高温的影响。这有一个特殊的词。烧焦是由燃烧引起的损坏区域或痕迹。

Scorch is also a verb. When we scorch something, we burn it. But scorch sounds more serious than a burn. For example, I would not say I scorched dinner. I would say I burned it.Scorch 也是一个动词。当我们烧焦某物时，我们会烧掉它。但烧焦听起来比烧伤更严重。例如，我不会说我把晚餐烤焦了。我会说我烧焦了它。

Sometimes we use it to describe a verb meaning to produce extreme heat. For example, the sun scorched the bare earth.有时我们用它来形容一个动词，意思是产生极热。例如，太阳烤焦了光秃秃的大地。

And that brings us to today’s expression – scorched-earth.这给我们带来了今天的表达——焦土。

Scorched-earth describes a kind of policy or way of doing something. For example, it is a kind of military policy. This policy makes sure that all resources – houses, food crops, factories, vehicles – are destroyed before an enemy can use them. You destroy all things of value so that they cannot be used against you.Scorched-earth 描述了一种做某事的政策或方式。例如，这是一种军事政策。该政策确保所有资源——房屋、粮食作物、工厂、车辆——在敌人使用之前被摧毁。你摧毁了所有有价值的东西，这样它们就不会被用来对付你。

A scorched-earth approach is also used in the world of business. It is similar to the military policy. A scorched-earth approach is when a company gets rid of the best parts of its business during a hostile takeover. This is to make it less appealing to another company that might want to buy it.焦土方法也用于商业领域。这与军事政策相似。焦土方法是指公司在敌意收购期间摆脱其业务的最佳部分。这是为了降低它对可能想要购买它的另一家公司的吸引力。

In both military and business, a scorched-earth approach is often a last-ditch effort. We turn to a last-ditch effort when everything else has failed. Everything. Once everything is destroyed … there is no going back. It is a “point of no return.”在军事和商业领域，焦土方法通常是最后的努力。当其他一切都失败时，我们会采取最后的努力。一切。一旦一切都被摧毁了……就没有回头路了。这是一个“不归路”。

Burning bridges is a related expression. We wrote about this in an earlier Words and Their Stories. This expression is often used in personal relationships. If you burn your bridges, you destroy your relationships. Again, there is no going back and saying you are sorry.Burning bridges 是一个相关的表达。我们在较早的Words和Their Stories中写到了这一点。这个表达经常用于个人关系。如果你烧掉你的桥梁，你就会破坏你的人际关系。再一次，没有回头说你很抱歉。

However, when you burn bridges, relationships with others is the only thing you are destroying. So, these two expressions – burning bridges and scorched-earth are not interchangeable.然而，当你烧掉桥梁时，与他人的关系是你唯一破坏的东西。所以，这两个表达——燃烧的桥梁和焦土是不可互换的。

But they have a similar goal -- destruction. 但他们有一个相似的目标——破坏。

Let’s say a friend of mine, Georgina, was a talent agent. She represented many successful writers, artists and musicians in a large city. When the business got too big, she opened an agency with her friend, Stephanie. They grew the company, and it was very profitable. Georgina had all the contacts, but Stephanie knew how to oversee a company -- maybe too well.假设我的一个朋友乔治娜是一名人才经纪人。她在一个大城市代理了许多成功的作家、艺术家和音乐家。当生意变得太大时，她和她的朋友斯蒂芬妮开了一家代理公司。他们发展了公司，而且利润非常可观。Georgina 拥有所有联系人，但 Stephanie 知道如何监督一家公司——也许太了解了。

One day, Georgina arrived to the office to find herself locked out! Her “friend” had tricked her into signing away her rights to the company.一天，乔治娜来到办公室，发现自己被锁在门外！她的“朋友”欺骗她签署了她对公司的权利。

Georgina was out. She found that legally there was nothing she could do. So, she did the only thing she could do. She took a scorched-earth approach.乔治娜出去了。她发现在法律上她无能为力。于是，她做了她唯一能做的事。她采取了焦土方法。

Georgina knew the most valuable things the company owned were the contacts she had. So, she burned all her bridges and destroyed the relationships with all those contacts. It took her a while. But, in time, the agency failed.乔治娜知道公司拥有的最有价值的东西是她拥有的联系人。所以，她烧毁了她所有的桥梁，破坏了与所有这些联系人的关系。她花了一段时间。但是，随着时间的推移，该机构失败了。

Stephanie is still looking for work. But Georgina moved to a beautiful island and opened a restaurant. 斯蒂芬妮仍在找工作。但乔治娜搬到了一个美丽的岛屿，开了一家餐馆。

And that’s all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories! Until next time...今天讲解this Words和Their Stories就到这，下次见...