to start a friendly conversation in an awkward situation
在尴尬的情况下开始友好的对话 (zai gan'ga de qingkuang xia kaishi youhao de duihua)
"To break the ice, I told a funny story."
"为了打破僵局，我讲了一个有趣的故事。" (wei le **dapo jiangju**, wo jiang le yige youqu de gushi)
to signal someone to stop, especially a vehicle
to make a noticeable difference or impact
to recover after an illness or difficulty
to increase your effort or speed
to take back what you said
to make a lot of progress or improvement
