In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the option which best expresses the meaning of the idiom / phrase 'To go through fire and water'.

Introduction / Context:
This idiom question tests your knowledge of a vivid English expression: 'To go through fire and water'. Idioms often compress a long idea into a short, picture filled phrase, and here the image of passing through both fire and water highlights great difficulty or danger. In competitive exams, understanding such idioms helps in both vocabulary questions and reading comprehension passages.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Idiom: 'To go through fire and water'.
- Options: (a) To scold someone; (b) To experience many dangers in order to achieve something; (c) To act without restraints; (d) Something which hurts.
- Exactly one option must capture the established figurative meaning of the idiom.

Concept / Approach:
The phrase 'to go through fire and water for someone or something' means to face severe hardships, dangers and difficulties in order to help that person or to reach a goal. It implies extreme loyalty or determination. It does not refer to scolding, mere pain or acting freely without control. When you see dramatic images like 'fire and water', think of life threatening challenges that one is willing to endure for a cause.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Visualise the literal image: passing through both raging fire and deep water would be extremely difficult and dangerous. Step 2: Translate this into figurative meaning: facing many dangers and hardships for something important. Step 3: Examine option (b): 'To experience many dangers in order to achieve something' directly matches this idea. Step 4: Examine option (a): 'To scold someone' has nothing to do with facing dangers and appears in other idioms such as 'give someone a piece of one's mind'. Step 5: Examine option (c): 'To act without restraints' is about behaving freely or wildly, not about enduring dangers for a goal. Step 6: Examine option (d): 'Something which hurts' is too general and does not express the idea of continued effort and risk to reach a goal.

Verification / Alternative check:
Use the idiom in a sentence: 'He would go through fire and water for his children.' This clearly means that he would face any danger and overcome any obstacle for their sake. Substituting option (b), we obtain 'He would experience many dangers in order to achieve something for his children', which conveys the same sense of sacrifice and effort. The other options do not fit this example at all and distort the meaning of the sentence.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option (a) is wrong because scolding is just speaking angrily; it is not a matter of enduring hardship. Option (c) is wrong because acting without restraints describes behaviour, not suffering for a cause. Option (d) is wrong because while going through fire certainly hurts, the idiom focuses on willingness to suffer for a purpose, not on pain alone.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners may sometimes choose an option that refers to pain or hurt because they associate fire with burning. However, idioms must be understood as whole units with their conventional meanings, not as literal word by word pictures. To remember this idiom, think of someone on a dangerous journey crossing fire and water to reach a destination, which naturally suggests facing many dangers for what they care about.

Final Answer:
'To go through fire and water' means to experience many dangers in order to achieve something.