Throughout human history there have been many stringent taboos concern

Question

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.   1 
 1. If the argument in the passage is valid, taboos against eating in the presence of others who are not also eating would be LEAST likely in a society that

(A) had always had a plentiful supply of food 
(B) emphasized the need to share worldly goods 
(C) had a nomadic rather than an agricultural way of life 
(D) emphasized the value of privacy 
(E) discouraged overindulgence

2 
 2. The author's hypothesis concerning the origin of taboos against watching other people eat emphasizes the

(A) general palatability of food 
(B) religious significance of food 
(C) limited availability of food 
(D) various sources of food 
(E) nutritional value of food

3 
 3. 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

4 
 4. 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) Adapts a scientific theory and applies it to a spiritual relationship. 
(C) Simplifies a complex biological phenomenon by explaining it in terms of social needs. 
(D) Reorganizes a system designed to guide personal behavior. 
(E) Codifies earlier, unsystematized conjectures about family life.

AdityaHongunti · Answer

Throughout human history there have been many stringent taboos concerning watching other people eat or eating in the presence of others.

( there have been STRINGENT taboos abou something...prethink : why is author telling me this??? does he want to talk in detail about the taboo?? why there was such a taboo?? what are the effects of such taboos?? lets read on !!)

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.

( uptil now explanations were given for these taboos(why such taboo exist) ...but the explanations were inappropriate !! 
the "inappropriate " aspect is supported by: reationship btween "eating" and "non eating fellow" OR between " full tummy" and "who APPEAR (please note this word ..the author implies that the that one who is eating may actually be hungry but the innaprporiateness of the relationship places the perso in a negative role :shamelessly gorging ....now do i expect that the author is still going o down play the attemps is he going to intorduce som of his giew)?)

Undoubtedly such elements exist in the taboos, but there is an  additional element  with' a much more fundamental importance.

(there we go...author intoruduces a new point : there is an  ADDITIONAL  element...this means that the earlier attempts wereno cmpletely focusing on one more important aspect ..what is that?? lets read)

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.

(so the additional element is : limited food !!! so sharing the food as important : so basically author is saying when the orgins of this taboo took place there was actually a plausible reason for that...in the earlier times eating publicly meant sahring and not sahring meant no scarcity of food ... so if we try to connect the dots we can safely make an argument that as the food became more and more available , the sharing part decreased but the taboo remained... )

para summary : the earlier attempts to explain the taboo were not considerng a fundamnetal aspect ; the consideration of this aspect is important

AdityaHongunti · Answer

If the argument in the passage is valid, taboos against eating in the presence of others who are not also eating would be LEAST likely in a society that

: except question... in the passsage we discussed about a taboo...what is that taboo regarding?? : eating in front of others ... now the author gives us a fndamnetal aspect about the "Why" of the taboo... he elaborates his poin which is "limited availability of food" by telling us about the ACTUAL situation of earlier times and how limited availabilty of food played a role in the origin of the taboo !!! so any answer choice which would gve us a situation in which there is "limited" availability of food , then that is a society where the taboo may exist..
 SO, we want a society that always had abundant food suply , such a society is not likely to have such a taboo as there was no reason for its origin !!!

(A) had  always  had a plentiful supply of food 
very important word "always" ... if there was a transition from " scarcity to abundance " then it is actualy is very plausible to believe that "taboo" exists...this is correct asnwer.

(B) emphasized the need to share worldly goods 
- right from the passage ...if sharing was important ..in line with author impotant element..."limited" food...

(C) had a nomadic rather than an agricultural way of life 
- NO MENTION OF TRIBAL link to TABOO

(D) emphasized the value of privacy 
- if privancy is importan..and someone is eating in front of someone else, then taboo may exist !!

(E) discouraged overindulgence 
- meaning : did not appreciate too much inovemnet from others. >> means appreicted privacy. >>same as D>> taboo exists

AdityaHongunti · Answer

The author's hypothesis concerning the origin of taboos against watching other people eat emphasizes the

(A) general  palatability  of food
- "palatability" nope
 
(B)  religious significance of food

(C) limited availability of food 
 
(D) various sources of food 
- no mention of "vauous sources"..opposite

(E)  nutritional value  of food

AdityaHongunti · Answer

According to the passage, the author believes that past attempts to explain some taboos concerning eating are

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.

( uptil now explanations were given for these taboos(why such taboo exist) ...but the explanations were inappropriate !! 
the "inappropriate " aspect is supported by: reationship btween "eating" and "non eating fellow" OR between " full tummy" and "who APPEAR (please note this word ..the author implies that the that one who is eating may actually be hungry but the innaprporiateness of the relationship places the perso in a negative role :shamelessly gorging ....now do i expect that the author is still going o down play the attemps is he going to intorduce som of his giew)?)

Undoubtedly such elements exist in the taboos, but there is an additional element with' a much more fundamental importance.

(there we go...author intoruduces a new point : there is an ADDITIONAL element...this means that the earlier attempts wereno cmpletely focusing on one more important aspect .)

so this means that e arlier attempts did not consider an important aspect...so arent they "incomplete"...the word "additional" here is very important... "Additional element" ...

(A) unimaginative 
- nope.. we could imagine

(B) implausible 
- this is tempting ... becasue author does say the attempts did consider  inapprorptae  relationship... but that atalks about the "inappropriateness" of the relationship...the attempts done to provde explanations for the taboo may very well be plausible...author rather IMPLIES they were incomplete !!

(C) inelegant 
- usless

(D) incomplete 
- CORRECT  
(E) unclear 
- pretty clear

AdityaHongunti · Answer

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

the author first tells us about a taboo
attempts made t explain the taboo
do not consider fundatemnetal lement
elaboration of that element !!

so author makes his point by downpaying attempts...
 
(A) Downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition.

(B) Adapts a  scientific theory  and applies it to a  spiritual relationship .

(C) Simplifies a complex  biological phenomenon  by explaining it in terms of social needs.

(D) Reorganizes a system designed to guide  personal behavior. 
- no guidance mentioned

(E) Codifies earlier, unsystematized  conjectures about family life. 
- how the earlier families were we have no idea...all we know they were either nuclear or ectended... but do we know they were "unsystemeidxed"?

foookato · Answer

GMATNinja

Guys - i need help here. The explanation in the comments is correct or not? because the answers in the question stem suggests they are wrong

chloee.11 · Answer

Hi there, this is a passage from GRE Big Book, the answers the poster gave are incorrect.

Here are the official answers. The answers in the comment sections look right. 
1. A - had always had a plentiful supply of food
2. C - limited availability of food
3. D - incomplete 
4. A - downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition

Throughout human history there have been many stringent taboos concern

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Throughout human history there have been many stringent taboos concern

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