英文解釈について
During the Age of Silence, people communicated more, not less. Basic survival demanded that the hands were almost never still, and so it was only during sleep that people were not saying something. No distinction was made between the gestures of language and the gestures of life. The labor of building a house, say, or preparing a meal was no less an expression than making the sign for I love you or I feel serious. When a hand was used to shield one’s face when
frightened by a loud noise something was being said; and when fingers were used to pick up what someone else had dropped something was being said; and even when the hands were at rest, that, too, was saying something.
（質問１） 第2パラグラフのThe labor of a building, say, or preparing a meal...ですが、このsayというのは「例えば」と訳すのだと思いますが、普通Can you play a wind instrument, say, a flute?というふうにa wind instrumentの具体例＝a fluteという並びになるとい思います。しかしここでは(the labor of) building a houseの具体例がpreparing a mealではなく、恐らくthe gestures of lifeの具体例がbuilding~とpreparing~だと思うのですが正しいでしょうか？さらにこういう使い方(全文の具体例を次の文に持ってくる）のはよく有ることでしょうか？さらに例文があれば紹介していただきたいです。
（あと２～３個質問があるのですが入りきらないので次にします
お礼
早速のご解説、ありがとうございます。 理解できてすっきりしました。