Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness. In the【B1】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【B1】of noise. Even his conversation is in great【B1】a desperate attempt to prevent a dreadful silence. If he is introduced to a fellow mortal and a number of【B1】occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a【B1】, a worthless person, and is full of【B1】of the emptiest-headed chatterbox(唠叨多言的人). He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly,【B1】he longs to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a wax-work【B1】. The object of conversation is not, for the 【B1】part, to communicate ideas: it is to keep up the buzzing sound. Most buzzing,【B1】, is agreeable to the ear, and some of it is agreeable even to the【B1】. He would be a foolish man,【B1】, who waited until he had a wise【B1】to take part in the buzzing with his neighbors. Those who【B1】the weather as a conversational opening seem to be【B1】of the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation【B1】the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are【B1】if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears,【B1】they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen a new play. At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing at immense【B1】, they justly pride themselves【B1】their success as conversationalists.
【B1】

A. length
B. interval
C. period
D. meantime