"Break the ice"

打破坚冰

"... And if you break the ice and do this feat¹,

Achieve the elder, set the younger free

For our access, whose hap² shall be to have her

Will not so graceless be to be ingrate³."

“您要是破了坚冰，

娶了他的大女儿，解放了小女儿，

给我们开辟出一条路来，无论这幸运落在哪一个人身上，

对您老兄总不会不知感激的。” （朱生豪译）

莎士比亚用法：

Tranio suggests if Petruchio can "break the ice," then he will be able to woo Katherina. By using the "ice" language, Shakespeare makes Katherina seem as cold as ice. Moreover, the fact that the ice needs to be broken suggests that she is hard to reach.

特兰尼奥想让批特鲁乔替他“破了坚冰”，然后他就能够向凯萨琳娜求爱。通过这个词组，莎士比亚暗示凯萨琳娜像坚冰一样寒冷，而坚冰之所以需要被破，也说明凯萨琳娜的不近人情。

But the first actual usage of "break the ice" probably comes from Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of "Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans" — although in this case the phrase meant "to forge a path for others to follow," alluding⁴ to the breaking of ice to allow the navigation of boats.

不过，“破除坚冰”第一次出现，是在托马斯•诺斯爵士1579 年翻译的普鲁塔克《希腊罗马名人传》，不过在这里，这个词组意味着“为其他人开辟一条道路”，意指通过破冰来让船通过。

现代用法：

"Break the ice" still means to get to know someone.

意思仍然是“开始认识某人”。

Source: "The Taming of the Shrew," Act 1, Scene 2

出处：《驯悍记》，第一幕，第二场。