Q30:
Printwell’s Ink Jet Division manufactures ink-jet printers and the ink cartridges they use. Sales of its ink-jet printers have increased. Monthly revenues from those sales, however, have not increased, because competition has forced Printwell to cut the prices of its printers. Unfortunately, Printwell has been unable to bring down the cost of manufacturing a printer. Thus, despite the increase in printer sales, the Ink Jet Division must be providing the company with much smaller than it used to.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Ink-jet printers in regular use frequently need new ink cartridges, and Printwell’s printers only accept Printwell’s ink cartridges.
B. Unlike some competing companies, Printwell sells all of its printers through retailers, and these retailers’ costs account for a sizable proportion of the printers’ ultimate retail price.
C. Some printer manufacturers have been forced to reduce the sale price of their ink-jet printers even more than Printwell has.
D. In the past year, no competing manufacturer of ink-jet printers has had as great an increase in unit sales of printers as Printwell has.
E. In the past year, sales of Printwell’s ink-jet printers have increased more than sales of any other type of printer made by Printwell.
Answer: a

i choose c

我选的是E。

因为打印机卖的多，可以推出墨水也就卖得多。但是题中没有给墨水卖得多是不是就利润多，万一和打印机一样也降了价，没有什么利润空间呢？这就没法推出说墨水卖得多就一定利润增多。所以我觉得这个选项是ETS设的一个圈套。

而且这个选项还有一个我看来最明显的换套，题干说这个公司生产和销售喷墨打印机和墨水，而后来讲的是喷墨打印机如何，结论是所以喷墨打印机这个部门就不如以前了。可是没有任何地方提示，喷墨打印机和墨水就一定是一个division。也就是说即使墨水卖得好，利润高，也可能和这个JET PRINTER DIVISION没什么关系。 虽然从名称和常理上想应该是，但是题干不有告诉我们的，我们就一般应该当它不存在。

我选E的原因在于，这道题的结论是说：这个部门对公司的贡献不如以前。如果有公式表示就是

喷墨打印机部门利润 / 公司总利润， 同时 公司总利润 = 各部门利润的总和。

从题中可以看出来这个公司是以产品类型而划分部门的，而E告诉我们其它部门的利润不如喷墨打印机部门，也就是说公司总利润在下降，而同时喷墨打印机部门的利润是最高的，也就是占比是最大的。当然就可以推出说题的结论是不对了。

大家看看我这样想对不对。不管是砖也好瓦也好，看到有回音就比什么都好。

E应该是在说此公司卖出的printer比其他公司的多吧，而不是一个公司内的其它部门的利润不如喷墨打印机部门。所以，the higher sales of printers of printwell than others does not mean that the profit will be higher than last year, which would be contradictary to the argument.

“题中没有给墨水卖得多是不是就利润多，万一和打印机一样也降了价”。题中没说，我们就不能假设cartridge是不是降价，而应该认为其他一切remain the same.

Printwell’s Ink Jet Division manufactures ink-jet printers and the ink cartridges they use. 说明2个产品都被一个division生产。

A中说Printwell’s printers only accept Printwell’s ink cartridges,所以打印机卖得多了，cartridges也应该卖得多，题里没说cartridge的价格变化，我们不能做联想，所以sales of cartridges increased following the increase in the sales of printers + the 2 products are manufactured by the same division, the increased sales of cartidges compensates the loss in sales of printers=>weaken the statement that "the Ink Jet Division must be providing the company with much smaller than it used to".

但是E项说的是同一个公司的产品喔，

In the past year, sales of Printwell’s ink-jet printers have increased more than sales of any other type of printer made by Printwell.

open to further discussion.

1.对于A，打印机和墨水就是同一个部门生产的哦，mm请看上面我highlight的部分

2.对于E，我觉得sales指的不是利润，应该是指销售数量。原文说这个部门sales增长，但是revenues没有增长。E说到这个打印机的sales比其他打印机好，无法推出这个打印机的利润是否更高。

个人见解，大家讨论！