IELTS Reading 練習 1 咖啡貿易史（含題目+詳解）

The History of Coffee Trade

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do the following statements agree with the information in the passage? Write:

• TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
• FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
• NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. Coffee plants originally grew wild in Yemen.
2. Religious authorities succeeded in permanently closing the first coffee houses.
3. Yemeni traders took steps to prevent coffee being cultivated abroad.
4. Baba Budan was arrested for smuggling coffee beans.

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. According to the passage, the first systematic roasting of coffee occurred in:

- A. Ethiopia - B. Mecca - C. Yemen - D. India

1. The writer suggests that coffee's global spread was mainly the result of:

- A. peaceful trade agreements - B. deliberate smuggling and colonial transplantation - C. accidental seed dispersal - D. Ethiopian government policy

Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

By the sixteenth century, coffee houses had become important (7) ______ in cities such as Cairo and Istanbul. Yemen maintained control of cultivation for almost two centuries, partly by (8) ______ exported beans so they could not germinate. This monopoly ended around 1670 when beans reached (9) ______, and later Dutch growers set up plantations in Java. Today, roughly one-third of the world's coffee comes from (10) ______.

1. FALSE Supporting sentence: "wild coffee plants had grown in the highlands of Ethiopia for centuries". The wild plants grew in Ethiopia, not Yemen. The passage contradicts the statement.

2. FALSE Supporting sentence: "religious authorities who occasionally tried, without lasting success, to ban them". "Without lasting success" directly contradicts "succeeded in permanently closing".

3. TRUE Supporting sentence: "Traders carefully sterilised exported beans by boiling or partial roasting, ensuring that no viable seed could be planted elsewhere". The statement paraphrases this accurately.

4. NOT GIVEN The passage mentions Baba Budan smuggled beans but says nothing about whether he was arrested. Do not assume — if information is absent, choose NOT GIVEN.

5. C — Yemen Supporting sentence: "it was in fifteenth-century Yemen that the beans were first systematically roasted and brewed". Ethiopia is a trap (wild plants only).

6. B — deliberate smuggling and colonial transplantation Supporting sentence: "The global spread of coffee was therefore not a smooth commercial expansion but a series of deliberate acts of seed theft and colonial transplantation". Direct paraphrase.

7. social hubs Supporting sentence: "These venues quickly became social hubs where merchants, poets and travellers exchanged news". Two-word phrase from the text.

8. sterilising / boiling (either accepted, but "sterilising" matches the summary's grammar best — some IELTS versions prefer the noun form; "sterilising" is the safest exact phrase) Supporting sentence: "Traders carefully sterilised exported beans by boiling or partial roasting". Note: stick to words from the passage — don't invent synonyms.

9. southern India Supporting sentence: "He planted them in the hills of southern India, breaking Yemen's grip on supply". Two words, matches passage exactly.

10. Brazil Supporting sentence: "Brazil — today responsible for roughly one-third of world production". One word, directly stated.