Explanation:
I told him that we ate when we were not hungry and drank without the provocation of thirst.

Answer: This sentence occurs in chapter 6 of Part 4 of Swift’s satirical masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels. The extract refers to a talk between Gulliver and his Houyhnhnm master where the former satirically mentions to the latter the so-called food habits of his people.

Gulliver told his Houyhnhnm master that people in his country people drank wine in order to forget their trouble and to get rid of their fear but drinking wine also had a harmful effect on the people. He also informed the master that people in his country often ate when they were not hungry and drank when they were not thirsty. They drank wine because it was a sort of liquid which made them merry, putting them out of their senses. It took away all sad thoughts of the mind and begot wild extravagant imaginations in the brain raising their hopes and banishing their fear. They even sat, all night drinking strong liquor without eating a bit. It inflamed their bodies and precipitated or prevented digestion. So not always respond to the need of nature they ate or drank. Hunger did not always prompt them to take food or thirst did not provoke them to have a drink. They were not observing the laws of nature always. There were other obligations which compelled them to take food or have a drink. The rich flourished at the expense of the poor. The poor did not have food to subsist on.

This extract, in fact, provides a picture of the absurdities and irregularities of the people worldwide. We do not always observe the laws of nature. For that reason, we do not always take food or drink when faced with an urgency of this kind.