Silence is unnatural to man．He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness．In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else．Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence．If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox （喋喋不休的人）．He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure （蠟塑人像）．

       The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound．There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito （蚊子）．But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person．Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind．He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing -with his neighbors．

       Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish 1:0 talk．Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new．Some of them are content ．if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new, plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel．At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conservationists．

According to the author, people make conversation to              .

       A．exchange ideas              B．prove their value

       C．a(chǎn)chieve success m life         D．overcome their fear of silence

By "the buzzing of a fly" （Para．1）, the author means"_____".

       A．the noise of an insect               B．a(chǎn) low whispering sound

       C．meaningless talks                  D．the voice of a chatterbox

According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors___     ．

       A．a(chǎn)bout whatever they have prepared                       

       B．a(chǎn)bout whatever they want to

       C．in the hope of learning something new

       D．in the hope of getting on well

What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?

       A．To discuss why people like talking about weather．

       B．To encourage people to join in conversations．

       C．To persuade people to stop making noises．

       D．To explain why people keep talking．

The shopkeeper did not want to sell for          he thought was not enough.

       A．where       B．how  C．what  D．which

Government should adopt laws that would ban advertising and other types of ________ of tobacco products.

A．delivery                  B．spread                    C．promotion               D．discount

The writers, publishers and printers,         they are, we never know, are making silent money.

       A．who  B．whom       C．whatever   D．whenever

All those _____ about the poor children should be _____.

A. concerned; thanked             B. are concerned; thanked 

C. who are concerned; thanked for   D. are concerned; thanked for

She took her son, ran out of the house, and ______ him in the car, drove quickly to the nearest doctor’s office.

A. put                      B. to put                    C. putting              D. having put

What was unexpected was that the disrespectable fellow ______ the old man.

A. could have robbed    B. should have helped   C. should rob       D. might have helped

We missed our train, and ___ the next train was delayed, ____ we had to wait for two hours.

A. on top of that; in that case                   B. as a result; so that

C. because; therefore                                 D. what was worse; in which case

 Don't trust such people ______ praise you to your face but speak ill of you behind your back.

A. who                  B. whoever                   C. that                   D. as

He arrived home very late last night, __________in the early hours this morning.

       A．or else        B．or rather            C．rather than           D．more than