今天要给大家介绍的一个俗语是：to throw the baby out with the bath water。To throw the baby out with the bath water从字面上来解释就是：在泼洗澡水的时候连孩子一起泼掉了。这是很难想象的。但是这个俗语真正表达的是：在扔掉你不要的东西时把宝贵的东西都无意地一起扔掉了。我们举个例子吧：

"Our company thought they'd be smart and save money by stopping the bonuses they had been giving to the salesmen who sold the most cars each month. Well, they saved a little money, but they threw the baby out with the bath water--our best salesmen quit and went to work for our biggest competitor."

这句话的意思是：“我们公司取销了给每个月出售汽车最多的推销员奖金的制度，以为这样做很明智，可以省钱。可是，他们省了一点点钱却失掉了更有价值的东西，因为我们最好的推销员就此不干了，他到和我们竞争最激烈的公司去干了。”

下面这个例子里的公司主管比较聪敏，他正在考虑要不要解雇那个他不满意的雇员：

"I'd really like to fire this man tomorrow. But if I fire him, his brother will probably leave with him. His brother is one of our best people, and I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water."

他说：“我可真想明天就把那个人解雇了。但是，要是我解雇他，他的哥哥也许会和他一起走。他哥哥是我们这儿最好的雇员之一，我可不要因为解雇他弟弟而失去他。”

a bath of blood
浴血; 大屠杀