TTGWD-4-5，竟然还米有人问过

蓝夕叶子

  Extensive research has shown

 that the effects of short-term price

       promotions on sales are themselves

Line       short-term.  Companies’ hopes that

  (5)      promotions might have a positive

aftereffect have not been borne

out for reasons that researchers

have been able to identify.  A price

promotion entices only a brand’s

 (10)      long-term or “loyal” customers;

people seldom buy an unfamiliar

brand merely because the price is

reduced.  They simply avoid paying

more than they have to when one of

 (15)      their customary brands is temporar-

ily available at a reduced price.  A

price promotion does not increase

the number of long-term customers

of a brand, as it attracts virtually

 (20)      no new customers in the first place.

       Nor do price promotions have linger-

       ing aftereffects for a brand, even

negative ones such as damage to

a brand’s reputation or erosion of

 (25)      customer loyalty, as is often feared.

      So why do companies spend so

much on price promotions?  Clearly

price promotions are generally run

at a loss, otherwise there would

 (30)      be more of them.  And the bigger

the increase in sales at promotion

prices, the bigger the loss.  While

       short-term price promotions can

have legitimate uses, such as

(35)         reducing excess inventory, it is the

recognizable increase in sales that

is their main attraction to manage-

ment, which is therefore reluctant

to abandon this strategy despite

its effect on the bottom line.

Q5：The passage suggests that evidence for price promotions’ “effect on the bottom line” (line 40) is provided by

A the lack of lingering aftereffects from price promotions
B the frequency with which price promotions occur
C price promotions’ inability to attract new customers
D price promotions’ recognizable effect on sales
E the legitimate uses to which management can put price promotions
答案是B，偶选的是E。

偶觉得答案不对。。。谁能解释一下"effect on the bottom line"?

也许是我对文章和题目的理解有问题？

那么， E错在哪里呢？我觉得B无法在原文找到定位。

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-10-3 11:49:14编辑过]