“焦土政策”原本是一个军事术语，描述的是一种策略，其中一个撤退的军队会破坏任何可能对敌人有用的东西，例如食物来源、交通工具或通信设施。目的是防止敌军利用这些资源。在第二次世界大战中，这种策略在多次战役中被应用，例如当纳粹德国军队入侵苏联时，苏联军队采用了这种策略。

在金融和商业领域，“焦土政策”可以描述一个公司为了阻止敌意收购而采取的极端措施，如出售公司的核心资产或承担巨额债务，使其对潜在收购者变得不那么有吸引力。

总的来说，“焦土政策”也可以理解为我们常说的“宁为玉碎不为瓦全”，宁愿自己毁灭也不愿让敌人得到。

在英文中，“焦土政策”一词的表达为Scorched Earth Policy。

Scorched Earth Policy：A scorched earth policy is an aggressive defense strategy utilized by a target company to discourage attempts of a hostile takeover by an acquirer. Named after the guerrilla warfare tactic of destroying anything of potential use to an enemy when retreating from a position, this course of action generally requires the company targeted for a takeover to do everything in its power to make itself less attractive.

具体使用场景可参考如下双语示例：

Companies considering a scorched earth policy to deter potential acquirers should weigh the long-term consequences against the immediate benefits.

考虑采用焦土政策来威慑潜在收购者的公司应该权衡即时的好处与长期的后果。

To fend off the hostile takeover, the company's board considered a scorched earth policy, including the sale of its most valuable assets.

为了抵御敌意收购，公司董事会考虑采取焦土政策，包括出售其最有价值的资产。

参考

Investopedia