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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. Undoubtedly 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 quite literally supporting one's family or, by extension, preserving one's self.
The author of the passage focuses primarily on
A.discussing a series of computer studies and their impact on the study of Shakespeare
B.recounting the effect of one computer study's findings on an academic debate
C.ruling out a definitive attribution of a particular author's work
D.illustrating the many difficulties involved in establishing author attribution
E.determining the exact value of computer technology in relation to the study of authorial attribution
If the argument in the passage is valid, taboos against eating in the presence of others who are not also eating would be likely in a society that
A.had always had a limited supply of food
B.emphasized the need to share worldly goods
C.had a nomadic rather than an agricultural way of life
According to the passage, the author believes that past attempts to explain some taboos concerning eating are
A.unimaginative
B.implausible
C.inelegant
D.incomplete
E.unclear
