Question

read the excerpt from the time travelers 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? 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.

Explanation:

The statement about large towns being part of an international market where preserved foods are traded long - distance shows that food availability is more consistent in larger towns compared to the countryside which depends on fresh food. The other options focus on pig farmers' actions, harvest failures, and price increases for the poor, but not directly on food availability in large towns.

Answer:

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.