TTGWD6-23

Companies that must determine well

   in advance of the selling season how

   many unites of a new product to manu-

Line    facture often underproduce products

  (5)    that sell well and have overstocks of

others.  The increased incidence in

recent years of mismatches between

production and demand seems ironic,

since point-of-sale scanners have

(10)    improved data on consumers’ buying

patterns and since flexible manufac-

turing has enabled companies to

produce, cost-effectively, small

quantities of goods.  This type of

(15)    manufacturing has greatly increased

the number of new products introduced

annually in the United States.  However,

frequent introductions of new products

have two problematic side effects.  For

(20)    one, they reduce the average lifetime of

products; more of them are neither at the

beginning of their life (when prediction

is difficult) or at the end of their life

   (when keeping inventory is expen-

(25)    sive because the products will soon

become obsolete).  For another, as

new products proliferate, demand is

divided among a growing number of

stock-keeping units (SKU’s).  Even

(30)    though manufacturers and retailers can

forecast aggregate demand with some

certainty, forecasting accurately how

   that demand will be distributed among

the many SKU’s they sell is difficult.

(35)    For example, a company may be able

   to estimate accurately the aggregate

number of shoes it will sell, but it may

be uncertain about which specific

types of shoes will sell more than

other types.

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Q23:

Which of the following most accurately describes the function of the last sentence in the passage (lines 35-40)?



To cite a situation in which the aggregate demand is more important than the distribution of demand among SKU’s
To refute an assertion about the side effects of flexible manufacturing
To illustrate an assertion about companies’ ability to forecast demand
To provide an example of ways in which companies address the difficulties of forecasting demand
To note an exception to the author’s assertion about distributing demand among SKU’s
Answer: D

答案给的是D，我在C和D中犹豫。但我感觉好多跟example有关的题目最后都选illustrate这个选项了。