Baptism是“洗礼”，fire是“火”。那么，baptism of fire是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: Congratulations! I heard you found a job with a prestigious law firm.

    B: Thank you. But my first day in the job was a real baptism of fire because I had to deal with a very difficult case immediately.

    Note: The idiom originated from the Bible. It means a severe ordeal or test, especially an initial one. This term transfers the original religious rite of baptism, whereby holiness is imparted, to various kinds of ordeal. At first it signified the death of martyrs at the stake, and in 19th-century France it was used for a soldier’s first experience of combat. Currently it is used more loosely for any difficult first encounter. The Chinese also say “血与火的洗礼” (baptism of blood and fire) in conditions of war.