GMATPrep 一道逻辑题

reginaer

Some airlines allegedly reduce fares on certain routes to a level at which they lose money, in order to drive competitors off those routes.  However, this method of eliminating competition cannot be profitable in the long run.  Once an airline successfully implements this method, any attempt to recoup the earlier losses by charging high fares on that route for an extended period would only provide competitors with a better opportunity to undercut the airline's fares.

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

A. In some countries it is not illegal for a company to drive away competitiors by selling a product below cost.

B. Airline executives generally believe that a company that once underpriced its fars to drive away competitiors is very likely to do so again if new competitors emerge.

C. As part of promotions designed to attrat new customers, airlines sometimes reduce their ticket prices to below an economically sustainable level

D. On deciding to stop serving particular routes, most airlines shift resources to other routes rather than reduce the size of their operations.

E. When airlines dramatically reduce their fares on a particular route, the total number of air passengers on that route increases greatly.

I chose E.  The given correct answer is B.   怎么理解 B 呢?  好象想表明一旦降价成功, 别的航空公司就撤退了? 可实际上不一定吧...

chengxiao88

这题我的理解是:

B说各家航空公司的总裁们认为一家曾经降价的公司很有可能再次采取这种方法如果他们敢与这家公司竞争的话(趁它提价时降价).

也就是说他们不太可能与这家争了,这家降价的公司可长期保持没有竞争者的状态,从而可以长期profitable

我感觉这个选项实际削弱结论:any attempt to recoup the earlier losses by charging high fares on that route for an extended period would only provide competitors with a better opportunity to undercut the airline's fares.
E与长期profitable无关,无法削弱.

不知我的理解对否~~~~~

reginaer

多谢楼上. 

同意你对 B 的理解. 

弱问一下 E: 如果乘客量增多, 票价降低, 两者相乘有可能维持 profit 在可接受范围.  这样的话, E 也与结论有关.  我当时选E 就是基于这种想法的. 错在哪里呢?

chengxiao88

据我看了OG以后,觉得削弱题要削弱得肯定,B可以说可使长期profitable,但E的情况是可能长期profitable,也可能不profitable,无法确定,就不如B项好.而且许多大大说做逻辑题要注意跟着逻辑链走,尽量从题干给出的范围中评价,所以我觉得E是无关选项

juningwer

E里面乘客变多了，但是是不是意味着利润变大呢?既然题目说把价格降到不亏不赚，也乘客无论有多少，都是不亏不赚。另外E就算利润增加，他反对的是题目已经默认的东西。题目说降价不能在长期导致盈利，因为其他公司会在降价公司提价的时候介入。反对的方向只有两种：1.有其他方式能使得降价公司盈利；2。其他公司不会介入。那就是B了

陆将除非

同意B, 因为只要有新竞争者加入,这些航空公司就不会" recoup the earlier losses by charging high fares and provide a better opportunity to competitors ", 也就是说只要竞争者存在,就不会有提升价格的机会, 所以weaken结论, 而E, the total number of air passengerss大量增加了则有加强结论的含义,即这些航空公司因降价带来的损失更不易恢复,其他竞争者的优势就更强了.