IELTS Reading 練習 1 咖啡貿易史（含題目+詳解）

The History of Coffee Trade

IELTS · 雅思備考 · 11 min read · 2026-04-25

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主題: The global history of coffee trade
文章重點: Coffee spread from a single Arabian port to plantations across four continents through deliberate seed smuggling and colonial transplantation rather than peaceful commerce.
難度: 中等 · Intermediate
建議時間: 18 分鐘

重要單字

commodity — a raw material or product that can be bought and sold / 商品、貿易品
monopoly — exclusive control of the supply of a product / 壟斷、獨佔
sterilise — to treat something so that it cannot reproduce / 消毒、使無法繁殖
smuggle — to move goods illegally across borders / 走私、偷運
plantation — a large estate where crops are grown / 種植園、農場
transplantation — moving plants from one place to grow in another / 移植、移種

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

Coffee began as a monastic drink in fifteenth-century Yemen and spread quickly across the Arab world. For nearly two centuries Yemen kept a near monopoly by sterilising exported beans, but smugglers and Dutch and French colonists eventually carried fertile plants to India, Java, the Caribbean and Brazil, turning coffee into the second most traded commodity in the world.

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — From Ethiopian highlands to Yemeni ports

Coffee, now the second most traded commodity in the world after oil, began its commercial life in a region far smaller and more remote than most consumers realise. Although wild coffee plants had grown in the highlands of Ethiopia for centuries, it was in fifteenth-century Yemen that the beans were first systematically roasted and brewed. Sufi monasteries in the port city of Mocha used the drink to sustain long night-time devotions, and from there the habit spread rapidly across the Arab world.

本段重要單字 (3)

commodity — a traded product / 商品
remote — far away, isolated / 偏遠的
systematically — in an organised, methodical way / 有系統地

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

Where were coffee beans first systematically roasted and brewed?

A. In the highlands of Ethiopia.
B. In fifteenth-century Yemen.
C. In Mecca and Cairo.

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答案：B — B. In fifteenth-century Yemen.

The passage says "it was in fifteenth-century Yemen that the beans were first systematically roasted and brewed". Ethiopia had wild plants, but the drink was first prepared in Yemen.

2 段落 2 — Coffee houses and a guarded monopoly

By the early 1500s, coffee houses had appeared in Mecca, Cairo and Istanbul. These venues quickly became social hubs where merchants, poets and travellers exchanged news, to the unease of religious authorities who occasionally tried, without lasting success, to ban them. For nearly two centuries, Yemen held a near monopoly on cultivation. Traders carefully sterilised exported beans by boiling or partial roasting, ensuring that no viable seed could be planted elsewhere.

本段重要單字 (3)

monopoly — exclusive control / 壟斷
sterilise — to make unable to reproduce / 消毒
viable — capable of growing or working / 可存活的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

Why did Yemeni traders boil or partially roast exported beans?

A. To improve the flavour of the drink.
B. To prevent the beans from being grown abroad.
C. To meet religious requirements.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — B. To prevent the beans from being grown abroad.

The text says they sterilised beans "ensuring that no viable seed could be planted elsewhere" — a deliberate strategy to protect the monopoly.

3 段落 3 — Smuggling breaks the monopoly

This control eventually collapsed. Around 1670, an Indian pilgrim named Baba Budan is said to have smuggled seven fertile beans out of Mocha, strapping them to his stomach. He planted them in the hills of southern India, breaking Yemen's grip on supply. Shortly afterwards, Dutch merchants acquired plants and established plantations in Java, and by 1720 the French had introduced coffee to Martinique in the Caribbean. Within fifty years, Brazil — today responsible for roughly one-third of world production — had begun its first commercial harvests.

本段重要單字 (3)

smuggle — to move goods illegally / 走私
fertile — able to produce new plants / 可繁殖的、肥沃的
plantation — a large farm growing one crop / 種植園

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

According to the passage, which country eventually became the largest coffee producer?

A. India.
B. Java (Indonesia).
C. Brazil.

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答案：C — C. Brazil.

The passage states Brazil is "today responsible for roughly one-third of world production" — by far the largest single producer mentioned.

4 段落 4 — A daily ritual built on seed theft

The global spread of coffee was therefore not a smooth commercial expansion but a series of deliberate acts of seed theft and colonial transplantation. What began as a monastic drink in a single Arabian port became, within two hundred years, the economic foundation of plantations across four continents — and the daily ritual of hundreds of millions. The story shows how a closely guarded local product can, through a few determined acts, be transformed into a global industry.

本段重要單字 (3)

deliberate — done on purpose / 故意的
transplantation — moving plants to grow elsewhere / 移植
ritual — a regular habit or ceremony / 儀式、習慣

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What is the writer's main view of how coffee spread globally?

A. It was the result of peaceful trade agreements between nations.
B. It came mainly from accidental seed dispersal by birds and travellers.
C. It was driven by deliberate smuggling and colonial transplantation.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：C — C. It was driven by deliberate smuggling and colonial transplantation.

The paragraph states the spread was "not a smooth commercial expansion but a series of deliberate acts of seed theft and colonial transplantation".

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閱讀前先看 Before you read

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — From Ethiopian highlands to Yemeni ports

2 段落 2 — Coffee houses and a guarded monopoly

3 段落 3 — Smuggling breaks the monopoly

4 段落 4 — A daily ritual built on seed theft

每天 5 分鐘的系統練習

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