Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness. In the interval he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and there are few things of which he stands in more fear than of the absence of noise. Even his conversation is in great measure a desperate attempt to prevent a dreadful silence. If he is introduced to a fellow mortal 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. He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he longs to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a wax-work figure. The object 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 exasperating as the continuous ping of a mosquito. But at a dinner-party one would rather be a mosquito than a mute. Most buzzing, fortunately, is agreeable to the ear, and some of it is agreeable even to the mind. He would be a foolish man, however, who waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing with his neighbors. Those who despise the weather as a conversational opening seem to me to be ignorant of the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing at immense length, they justly plume themselves on their success as conversationalists.
相关单词：unnatural
unnatural解释：adj.不自然的；反常的
unnatural例句：
Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
相关单词：interval
interval解释：n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息
interval例句：
The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。
相关单词：exasperating
exasperating解释：adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式
exasperating例句：
Our team's failure is very exasperating. 我们队失败了，真是气死人。
It is really exasperating that he has not turned up when the train is
相关单词：conversational
conversational解释：adj.对话的，会话的
conversational例句：
The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。
相关单词：plume
plume解释：n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰
plume例句：
Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。
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