What he had to say was 33 by an uncomfortable silence.
答案：(C) greeted
【句型】be greeted by silence 字詞搭配「被沉默以對」，表示他的發言只換來一陣尷尬的沉默；turned／created／generated 都不符合「發言後被安靜回應」的固定用法。
本題大考中心未公布逐題答對率，以下不談數據，只談觀念。
greet 這個字，你的印象大概只有「打招呼、問候」這一個意思，所以看到「他的話被一陣沉默 greet」會覺得很奇怪，反而去挑看起來比較合理的 created 或 generated。這一格考的正是這個字你沒見過的那一面。
四個選項都是過去分詞，前面有 was，所以這一格是被動：What he had to say was ___ by an uncomfortable silence.（他要說的話……一陣尷尬的沉默。）greet 除了「問候」，還有一個很常見的用法：用某種反應來迎接某件事。be greeted by／with ＋ 反應，就是「換來、迎來某種反應」。所以 was greeted by an uncomfortable silence 是「換來一陣尷尬的沉默」——他話一說完，全場沒有人接話。掛鉤可以用正面的版本記：His speech was greeted with applause.（他的演說贏得一陣掌聲。）掌聲與沉默都是「反應」，走的是同一個結構。
created（創造）、generated（產生）：兩個意思很接近，依「同義的選項不可能只有一個對」可以一起砍掉；而且它們的語意方向要用主動（His words created an uncomfortable silence 他的話造成了沉默），配上 by 帶施動者的被動結構就不對了。turned（轉變）：turn 要接補語或介系詞（turn into、turn red），單獨被動再接 by 不成立。
be greeted by／with（換來、迎來某種反應）、be greeted with applause（贏得掌聲）、an uncomfortable silence（尷尬的沉默）、what he had to say（他要說的話）、break the silence（打破沉默）、greet sb（問候某人）。
The people in the room were tense. Five young engineers were sitting with their 31 . They were trying to settle details of an important new plant site for a major client. Suddenly one of the young engineers gave what he thought was a good solution 32 the problem. What he had to say was 33 by an uncomfortable silence. The boss then laughingly pointed out that the same proposal had been made and 34 some minutes before. The incident seemed funny 35 the time, but several months later it did not.
After the project had been successfully finished, most of the engineers who had worked on it were 36 . But the young man who had made a fool of himself at the meeting was not on the list. 37 The young engineer swore that he had never heard the proposal made and rejected. 38 He was a victim of a bad listening habit that he didn't know he had.
Bad listening habits can hurt you a lot in your daily living. Much of your success, both in your work and social life, 39 how you listen. A number of major industries and more than twenty leading colleges 40 . They have set up "listening clinics" and courses to find out what is wrong—and what to do about it.