Passage2
The International Coffee Agreement(ica) was set up in1963 to try to stop the downward drift of prices, and to "stabilize prices above their free market level. "It did this by regulating the supply of coffee beans coming on to the world market. Producing countries each agreed to export a "quota", a certain quantity of coffee, which was a little less than they would have normally exported without controls. By exporting slightly less than they might have done, the producing countries received a higher price per bag-and their overall revenues were higher. When coffee prices rose, producing countries were allowed an increase in their quotas, when prices fell their quotas decreased.
The agreement managed the market in a modest way but its biggest problem was that a timebomb(定时炸弹) markedoverproductionwas persistently ticking away underneath it-and finally exploded. Coffee producers had constrained their exports but not their output. This led to a huge build-up of stocks that countries could not sell, and it was clear that when the agreement ended, many of the stocks would be released on to the world market and the price would plummet.
The United States wanted larger quotas to be given to the producers of the higher quality Arabica coflees. And like other importing countries it wanted action to end the black market in international coffee trade, whereby countries traded their surplus unofficially, at a price sometimes only half that of the official world market price; half-price was thought better than dumping coffee beans in the sea or letting them rot.
49.Importing countries like to buy coffee in the black market because of its lower price.
A、True
B、False
【正确答案】：B
【名师解析】:根据文章内容，进口国购买黑市咖啡的原因是其价格较低。文章中提到，一些国家在国际咖啡贸易中通过非官方渠道交易他们的剩余咖啡，这些咖啡的价格有时仅为官方世界市场价格的一半。因此，进口国选择黑市购买咖啡是因为其价格较低，选项A是正确的。但题目的答案给定为B，即选项A是错误的。这可能是因为题目的表述可能存在误导性，或者答案本身存在错误。然而，根据文章内容，进口国确实因为黑市咖啡的低价而倾向于购买它，所以正确的答案应该是A，而不是B。
