Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England . Pig farmers keep their flitches of bacon back in storage until they can get a better price for them later in the winter. Such tactics are made even more profitable by the unhappy fact that harvests can fail, causing local—and sometimes national—food shortages. Large towns are less vulnerable, being part of an international market that sees preserved foods traded long-distance; but much of the countryside is dependent on fresh food. After a poor harvest, prices for all commodities—not just grain—rise dramatically and the poor are unable to make ends meet. Which detail from the excerpt best supports the inference that food was more consistently available in larger towns?
Answer
A
Pig farmers keep their flitches of bacon back in storage until they can get a better price for them later in the winter.
B
Such tactics are made even more profitable by the unhappy fact that harvests can fail, causing local—and sometimes national—food shortages.
C
Large towns are less vulnerable, being part of an international market that sees preserved foods traded long-distance; but much of the countryside is dependent on fresh food.
D
After a poor harvest, prices for all commodities—not just grain—rise dramatically and the poor are unable to make ends meet.
Explanation
The inference is that food was more consistently available in larger towns. Choice C directly explains why: towns were part of an international market where preserved foods could be traded over long distances, making them less vulnerable to shortages than the countryside, which depended on fresh food. The other choices describe food storage, harvest failures, or rising prices without showing why towns had steadier access to food.
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