题目内容
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（蜡塑人像）.
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 to 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.
【小题1】According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors_____.
| A．in the hope of learning something new |
| B．in the hope of getting on well |
| C．about whatever they have prepared |
| D．about whatever they want to |
| A．achieve success in life |
| B．exchange ideas |
| C．overcome their fear of silence |
| D．prove their value |
| A．To persuade people to stop making noises． |
| B．To explain why people keep talking． |
| C．To discuss why people like talking about weather． |
| D．To encourage people to join in conversations． |
| A．the voice of a chatterbox |
| B．meaningless talk sound |
| C．a low whispering |
| D．the noise of an insect |
【小题1】D
【小题2】C
【小题3】B
【小题4】B
解析试题分析：本文论述了人们司空见惯的一种交流方式――谈话，人们不停的交谈，自有其一定特殊意义。
由于人们害怕沉默，谈话也是为了克服silence而导致的恐惧。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据依据第二段，表明与邻居交流可以谈任何想谈的内容，不必等到你有才wise thought开口。本题易误选B，而B说明人们与邻居交往有一定的目的性，故选D。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据文章开始就表明了人类最害怕的是silence，即使谈话也是为了克服silence而导致的恐惧，故选C。
【小题3】写作意图题。根据本题需要对文章三段加以综合概括，尤其是第二段首句，表明作者写本文的真实意图是解释人们为何不停的talking.故选B。
【小题4】词义推测题。根据依据日常知识，大多数talking没有什么特别意义。故选B。
考点：人生百味类短文阅读。
点评：写作意图题指作者在文中表达的意思，也就是写作目的。只有掌握作者的写作意图， 我们才能了解文章的深层含义， 从而全面正确，深刻把握思想。作者的写作意图通常隐藏在字里行间。
