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

• the lack of lingering aftereffects from price promotions
• the frequency with which price promotions occur
• price promotions’ inability to attract new customers
• price promotions’ recognizable effect on sales
• the legitimate uses to which management can put price promotions

此题给的的正确答案为b,实在不明白. 大家赐教啊~~~~~~
是怎么得到这个答案的哦?

我也不太明白。可能是这个：short-term price promotions can have legitimate uses, such as 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.

And the bigger the increase in sales at promotionprices, the bigger the loss.促销会赔钱，但同时会增加销售额，这样管理者就有可能不愿意放弃降价促销策略，虽然这样也会伤害公司的利益。
但是确实ABDE肯定不对。和题目要求不符。

虽然是一年前的帖子了，但是我自己做题时遇到这道也碰到了不少困惑。刚刚有点感悟，拿来与大家分享。
首先是问题
The passage suggests that evceidence for price promotions' "effect on the bottom line" is provided by
effect on the bottom line 是指打折销售引起亏损这件事。bottom line这里应该是账本底线的意思
问的是passage 是如何给出证据的，因此要完全从文中找到答案。
原文27--30行提到了price promotions are generally run at loss，是关键，后面给出了证明——otherwise there would be more of them。故B选项frequency正是more of them的对应。

题目问：文章暗示价格促销影响账本盈亏底线的证据来自何处？也可以理解为问“什么导致了损失？”。“影响账本盈亏底线”的，只有损失或收益。文章中提到“Clearly price promotions are generally run at a loss, otherwise there would be more of them.”，意味着价格促销只会导致损失。也就是说，价格促销的频次与导致的损失成正比。这间接证明了影响盈亏底线的证据来自于价格促销。

三楼解释得对。