高英考试.

1 Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities. And it is an activity only of humans. However intricate the ways in which animals communicate with each other, they do not indulge in anything that deserves the name of conversation.

2The charm of conversation is that it does not really start from anywhere, and no one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glows. The enemy of good conversation is the person who has "something to say." Conversation is not for making a point. Argument may often be a part of it, but the purpose of the argument is not to convince. There is no winning in conversation. In fact, the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to lose. Suddenly they see the moment for one of their best anecdotes, but in a flash the conversation has moved on and the opportunity is lost. They are ready to let it go.

3 Perhaps it is because of my up-bringing in English pubs that I think bar conversation has a charm of its own. Bar friends are not deeply involved in each other's lives. They are companions, not intimates. The fact that their marriages may be on the rooks, or that their love affairs have been broken or even that they got out of bed on the wrong side is simply not a concern.

4 It was on such an occasion the other evening, as the conversation moved desultorily here and there, from the most commonplace to thoughts of Jupiter, without any focus and with no need for one, that suddenly the alchemy of

conversation took place, and all at

once there was a focus. I do not

remember what made one of our

companions say it--she clearly had

not come into the bar to say it, it

was not something that was

pressing on her mind--but her

remark fell quite naturally into the

talk.

6 The glow of the conversation

burst into flames. There were

affirmations and protests and

denials, and of course the promise,

made in all such conversation, that

we would look it up on the morning.

That would settle it; but

conversation does not need to be

settled; it could still go ignorantly on.

1 As the corpse went past the flies

left the restaurant table in a cloud

and rushed after it, but they came

back a few minutes later.

2 The little crowd of mourners -- all

men and boys, no

women--threaded their way across

the market place between the piles

of pomegranates and the taxis and

the camels, walling a short chant

over and over again. What really

appeals to the flies is that the

corpses here are never put into

coffins, they are merely wrapped in

a piece of rag and carried on a

rough wooden bier on the shoulders

of four friends. When the friends get

to the burying-ground they hack an

oblong hole a foot or two deep,

dump the body in it and fling over it

a little of the dried-up, lumpy earth,

which is like broken brick. No

gravestone, no name, no identifying

mark of any kind. The

burying-ground is merely a huge

waste of hummocky earth, like a

derelict building-lot. After a month or

two no one can even be certain

where his own relatives are buried.

3 When you walk through a town

like this -- two hundred thousand

inhabitants of whom at least twenty

thousand own literally nothing

except the rags they stand up in--

when you see how the people live,

and still more how easily they die, it

is always difficult to believe that you

are walking among human beings.

We observe today not a victory of

party but a celebration of freedom,

symbolizing an end as well as a

beginning, signifying renewal as

well as change. For I have sworn

before you and Almighty God the

same solemn oath our forebears

prescribed nearly a century and

three-quarters ago.

Let the word go forth from this time

and place, to friend and foe alike,

that the torch has been passed to a

new generation of Americans --

born in this century, tempered by

war, disciplined by a hard and bitter

peace, proud of our ancient

heritage -- and unwilling to witness

or permit the slow undoing of those

human rights to which this nation

has always been committed, and to

which we are committed today at

home and around the world.

We dare not tempt them with

weakness. For only when our arms

are sufficient beyond doubt can we

be certain beyond doubt that they

will never be employed.

Let us never negotiate out of fear.

But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what

problems unite us instead of

belaboring those problems which

divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time,

formulate serious and precise

proposals for the inspection and

control of arms, and bring the

absolute power to destroy other

nations under the absolute control

of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the

wonders of science instead of its

terrors. Together let us explore the

stars, conquer the deserts,

eradicate disease, tap the ocean

depths, and encourage the arts and

commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed, in all

corners of the earth, the command

of Isaiah -- to "undo the heavy

burdens . . . [and] let the oppressed

go free."

Now the trumpet summons us again

-- not as a call to bear arms, though

arms we need -- not as a call to

battle, though embattled we are --

but a call to bear the burden of a

long twilight struggle, year in and

year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in

tribulation, a struggle against the

common enemies of man: tyranny,

poverty, disease, and war itself.

With a good conscience our only sure

reward, with history the final judge of

our deeds, let us go forth to lead the

land we love, asking His blessing and

His help, but knowing that here on

earth God's work must truly be our

own

No aspect of life in the Twenties has

been more commented upon and

sensationally romanticized than the