And the bigger the increase in sales at promotion prices, the bigger the loss. ->卖的越多,损失越大
it is the recognizable increase in sales that is their main attraction to management, which is therefore reluctant to abandon this strategy despite its effect on the bottom line. -》对于管理层来说,降价可以带来销售的增加已经是共识,这也是为什么他们很不情愿放弃这个政策,即使这个政策对于利润有很大的影响。
我一开始就找”影响利润“的选项,但是没有找到。但是考虑到GMAC应该不要求有这样的背景知识,所以这个题目应该是简单的对于”reluctant to abandon this strategy“取非,所以选C。
我的理解是这样的:最后一句话说management is reluctant to abandon this stratefy despite its effect on the bottom line. 且不管effect on the bottom line是什么,从despite可以看出,这是指price promotion的弊端:尽管有弊端,但还是不愿意放弃。那么问题问的就是“弊端”通过什么可以体现。而原文最后一段说:Clearly price promotions are generally run at a loss, otherwise there would be more of them. And the bigger the increase in sales atpromotion prices, the bigger the loss. 那么这个sales与loss的矛盾就算是“弊端”,要不然price promotion的次数会更多。there would be more of them可以归纳为frequency。
综合上面的讨论,我的理解和楼上一致: 该题的定位放在Clearly price promotions are generally run at a loss, otherwise there would be more of them. 一般价格促销是亏本的,不然会经常有价格促销的情况。(言外之意,这个策略是不经常发生的)
题目问的是,什么情况可以反映出价格促销对利润的影响。那就是促销是不是经常发生。如果经常发生,说明价格促销对利润是正面影响;如果不是经常发生,说明价格促销对利润是负面影响。 at a loss (亏本)与 bottom line (利润)相对应。
effect on the bottom line( the last line in audit, which reflects profit or loss),是有两种可能性:profit or loss, 如原文所述,越多使用price promotion,就会run at a loss; 相反的short-term 的,为解决库存,而采取price promotion是可被接受的。