Passage 3 Break the Ice In many places, ice is as widely used as bread, and it would be surprising indeed if ice did not give birth to many special phrases. The phrases are river-born. Winter often leaves a small river so much solid ice that some boats cannot get through. The crews of such boats in times past chopped through the ice with hand axes to get the boat moving. Later, the thick ice was broken up by power machines. And that is how the expressions, “to break the ice,” got started. It meant, to make your first move, to do something for the first time; it was not possible until the ice was broken. For example, one sometimes hears a salesman say that he has not yet “broken the ice.” What he really is saying is that he has not yet begun. Later, the expression developed another meaning, covering a relationship between people. When you have not broken the ice with someone, you have not yet cleared the way to his trust in you, to his friendship. You still remain a stranger to him, until you do. You must get through to him, just as the small boats had to clear the river's ice jam. While “to break the ice,” was imported from Britain, the expression, “to cut no ice,” was born in American waters. This is the story: In the early 1800’s, an American businessman developed the idea of shipping ice to hot places where they had none even in winter. His plan was successful and he made a great deal of money shipping ice to American cities in the South. Soon, we are told, many others began to ship ice as if it were a crop. Large crews went to work cutting up the ice with long saws. The work was hard and the weather was often bitter cold. Many of the men naturally enjoyed the warmth of the campfires, which took the stiffness out of their frozen fingers. They could never get enough of those warm flames. Some, perhaps, spent a little too much time around the fire and were caught doing so. What could they say, except that they were just getting ready to go back to work? But that did not soften their angry boss. He told them in strong language that such use of their time around the fire “cut no ice.” And from that came the expression as it is used today. Now, when you tell someone that he "cuts no ice" with you, you are making certain things clear to him—that you are not moved or impressed or influenced by him in any way. You are putting it to him straight--that he is getting nowhere with you. "Skating on thin ice" is something else again. This means that a man may be doing or saying something risky. It might be offensive and get him into trouble. Thin ice is not much support; if he is not more careful, he may sink right through. In sports or any other kind of contest, you will hear the phrase, "The game is on ice" or "It is iced up." This simply means that the game is really over, that one side is so far ahead that the other cannot catch up. There is no longer any doubt as who the winner will be. (560 words) 91. It was not possible for some boats to pass through a small river in winter time because .