Silence is unnatural to man. He does all he can {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(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{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(introduce) to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as{#blank#}3{#/blank#}failure, 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 {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(mean) 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 to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(annoy) as the continuous noise made by a mosquito (蚊子). But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito {#blank#}6{#/blank#}a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind.

    Those{#blank#}7{#/blank#} hate to pick up the weather as a{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(conversation) 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{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(learn) anything new. Some of them are content if they are {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(mere) allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears.

    The biggest house of cards, the longest tongue, and of course, the tallest man: these are among the thousands of records logged in the famous Guinness Book of Records. Created in 1955 after a debate {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (concern) Europe's fastest game bird, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} began as a marketing tool sold to pub landlords {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (promote) Guinness, an Irish drink, became the bestselling copyright title of all time (a category that excludes books such as the Bible and the Koran). In time, the book would sell 120 million copies in over 100 countries— quite a leap from its humble beginnings.

    In its early years, the book set its sights on {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (satisfy) man's inborn curiosity about the natural world around him. Its two principal fact finders, twins Norris and Ross McWhirter, moved wildly around the globe to collect facts. It was their task to find and document aspects of life that can be sensed or observed, things that can be quantified or measured. But not just any things. They were only interested in superlatives: the biggest and the best. It was during this period {#blank#}5{#/blank#} some of the remarkable Guinness Records were documented, answering such questions as "What is the brightest star?" and "What is the biggest spider?"

    Once aware of the public's thirst for such knowledge, the book's authors began to branch out to cover increasingly doubtful, little-known facts. They started documenting human achievements as well. A forerunner for reality television, the Guinness Book gave people {#blank#}6{#/blank#} chance to become famous for accomplishing odd, often pointless tasks. Records were set in 1955 for consuming 24 raw eggs in 14 minutes and in 1981 for the fastest solving of a Rubik's Cube (which took a mere 38 seconds). In 1979 a man yodeled(用真假嗓音交替唱) non-stop for ten and a quarter hours.

    In its latest appearance, the book has found a new home on the internet. No longer {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (restrict) to the limits of physical paper, the Guinness World Records website contains seemingly innumerable facts concerning such topics as the most powerful combustion(燃烧) engine, or the world's longest train. What is striking, however, is that such facts are found sharing a page with the record of the heaviest train to be pulled {#blank#}8{#/blank#} a beard.

    Originating as a simple bar book, the Guinness Book of Records {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (evolve) over decades to provide insight into the full range of modern life. And although one may be {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (likely) now to learn about the widest human mouth than the highest number of casualties in a single battle of the Civil War, the Guinness World Records website offers a telling glimpse into the future of fact-finding and record-recording.

    China's Liangzhu Archaeological Site {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(declare) on the list of World Heritage sites on Saturday by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee during its 43^rd session in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

    The site, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}is located in Yuhang District in Hangzhou City in China's eastern Zhejiang Province, showcases the civilization of prehistoric rice agriculture between 3,300 B.C. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 2,300 B.C. The ruins of ancient Liangzhu city were discovered in 2007, and then large dam sites {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(surround) the Liangzhu ancient city were unearthed continuously after 2009. It was {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (official) submitted lo UNESCO in 2019, hoping to win {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (recognize) as a World Cultural Heritage Site. The site {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (include) archaeological remains and unearthed cultural relics of the Liangzhu Ancient City as well as a wetland that covers {#blank#}8{#/blank#} area of 908. 89 hectares in a plain river network. It is also found that the Liangzhu ancestors started to use characters about 5 ,000 years ago, 1 ,000 years {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (early) than previously thought, according to Colin Renfrew, a retired professor of archaeology at the University of Cambridge.

    The World Heritage Committee added Liangzhu to the UNESCO list {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(encourage) better protection of the site, considered to be of "outstanding universal value" to humanity.