1.

Read the passage below and choose the best alternative (A. B, C, or D) to answer the questions.

Throughout human history there have been many stringent taboos concerning watching other people eat or eating in the presence of others. There have been attempts to explain these taboos in terms of inappropriate social relationships either between those who are involved and those who are not simultaneously involved in the satisfaction of a bodily need or between those already satiated and those who appear to be shamelessly gorging. Undoubtedy such elements exist in the taboos, but there is an additional element with a much more fundamental importance. In prehistoric times, when food was so precious and the on-lookers so hungry, not to offer half of the little food one had was unthinkable since every glance was a plea for life. Further, during those times, people existed in nuclear or extended family groups, and the sharing of food was quit literally supporting one's family or, by extension, preserving one's self.

In developing the main idea of the passage, the author does which of the following?

• A. Downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition
• B. Downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition
• C. Downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition
• D. Downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition

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