表达 “put something on ice（把某个事物放在冰上）” 的实际意思是 “推迟，搁置某件事情”。它通常被用来谈论一次交易或一项计划 “暂缓”。如果将这个表达中的动词 “put” 换成 “keep”，即 “keep something on ice”，意思就是 “持续搁置某件事情”。

• Due to the latest financial reports released by the company, the merger with their closest rival has been put on ice.
  由于这家公司发表了最新的财务报告，与其最主要的竞争对手的合并计划已被搁置。
• It’s a great idea, but we’ll have to put it on ice for a while due to budgetary constraints.
  这个想法很不错，但由于预算有限，我们不得不把它搁置一段时间。
• We need to keep the plan for the office expansion on ice for now while we wait for the architect to come back with her new design.
  我们需要暂时搁置扩建办公室的计划，等待建筑师提出她的新设计方案。