In our society, everyone has some sort of need to show off. Someone shows off his/her knowledge, ability, status and so on. Hence this topic is well worth discussing.
When I read the paragraphs 1-2, I can understand the whole meaning except for some new words. The woman has an eye for the current situation. But because she expresses such anguish that people consider her behavior as showoff.
In paragraph 3, I meet some problems. Firstly, “down at the other end of the room…….” I wonder why the author put “down” at the beginning of this sentence and what is the meaning of “down”, which I think it an adverb in context. I look it up in dictionary. When it is an adverb, it means “along”. Moreover, I know we have to distinguish the meanings not only from itself but also from the whole sentence even thewhole paragraph.
“Meanwhile our resident expert in wine meditatively sips, then pushes away, a glass of perfectly good French wine.” This sentence makes me to stopping reading. “Meanwhile our resident expert in wine meditatively sips, a glass of perfectly good French wine, then pushes away.” I consider maybe it is better to understand in this sequence. (Yes, I agree with you. It is easy to read when the order change.)
And in paragraph 6, it describes our daily life, but I doubt why the author also considers these behaviors as showoff. (Maybe we don’t mention that something we had done and are doing is showing off, because we were and are not intend to do that. But I like your writing.)
