TOEFL TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- As climate change thaws the snow, the remains of many of these victims have emerged—including one of the lost climbers from 1924.
随着气候变化，冰雪消融，许多遇难者的遗体重见天日——其中就包括1924年失踪的两名登山者之一。
——《经济学人》 - He reprised that language in his speech on Wednesday, signaling that no political thaw is in the offing.
他在周三的演讲中重申了这个说法，这意味着政治解冻还未到来。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] (of ice, snow, or another frozen substance, such as food) become liquid or soft as a result of warming
[动词] （指冰、雪或食物等其他冷冻物质）因变暖而变成液体或变软
深入解读
Thaw 一词源自西日耳曼语 thawon （融化），其基本含义指“冰、雪等融化、融解”或“江、河等结冰后解冻”，也可以表示“冷冻食品等解冻、化冻”或“手脚等变暖、回到正常温度”，比如：
- 这些肉烹制之前要先彻底解冻。
Allow the meat to thaw completely before cooking it. - 我觉得耳朵和脚趾暖和过来了。
I could feel my ears and toes start to thaw out.
其作名词时，除了指“融化、解冻”等过程外，还可以表示“解冻时节”或“天气回暖期”，比如：
- 我们在初春解冻时节的泥泞中艰难行进。
We slogged through the mud of an early spring thaw.
寒冬三九天是一年中最冷的一段时间，但比其更冷的还有人与人、国与国之间的冰冷关系。“解冻、融化”这种降至冰点的关系也可以用 thaw 引申表达，即“关系等回暖、缓和、改善”或“变得友好、随和、不拘束”，既可以作动词也可以作名词使用，比如：
- 他们谈着谈着，他才变得随和起来。
As they talked, he began to thaw. - 两国经贸关系有缓和的迹象。
There are signs of a thaw in economic and trade relations between the two countries.
名人用例
One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the Spring.
一只燕子的来临说明不了夏天，但当一群大雁冲破了三月暖流的雾霭时，春天就来到了。
出自美国生态学家、环境保护主义者奥尔多·利奥波德（Aldo Leopold，1887年1月11日－1948年4月21日）。
同近义词
- melt: make or become liquefied by heat
- defrost: free (the interior of a refrigerator or freezer) of accumulated ice, usually by turning it off for a period
- fuse: melt (a material or object) with intense heat so as to join it with something else
