2017年5-6月GMAT写作机经（6.17）（十一）.

　　37 题库9

　　The following appeared in the opinion column of a financial magazine.

　　“On average, middle-aged consumers devote 39 percent of their retail expenditure to department store products and services, while for younger consumers the average is only 25 percent. Since the number of middle-aged people will increase dramatically within the next decade, department stores can expect retail sales to increase significantly during that period. Furthermore, to take advantage of the trend, these stores should begin to replace some of those products intended to attract the younger consumer with products intended to attract the middle-aged consumer.”

　　财经杂志的意见栏(opinion column)：

　　一般而言，中年消费者的零售消费额的39%用于(devote)专卖店的商品何服务。而在年轻一些的消费者中这一比例仅有25%。由于中年消费者的数量在下一10年中将大幅增长，专卖店可以预期他们的销售额会有大幅增长。进一步，为利用这一趋势，这些店应该开始将一些吸引年轻消费者的商品替换为吸引中年消费者的商品。

　　提纲：

　　1.The absolute value of consumption should be given by the author.

　　2.all things are equal

　　3.Whether the increase of profit gained by attracting more middle-aged consumers will be offset

　　by the reduction of profit because of the loss of young consumers.

　　According to the argument above, the author recommends that the department stores should replace some of the products intended to attract the younger consumer with product intended to middle-age consumers, and the purpose is to attract the younger consumers whom will devote 39 percent of their retail expenditure to department store products and services when they are middle-aged.

　　This argument is unconvincing for the following logical fallacy.

　　A.Replace the products to attract the younger consumers will not increase the percentage of their retail expenditure to department store products and services when they are middle-aged. Because the percentage of retail expenditure to department store products and services that middle-age consumers devote is fixed, it will not change even the department stores attract the middle-age consumers since they were the young consumers.

　　B.The department stores should place their products in proportion to the percentage of retail expenditure to department store products and services that the middle-age and the young consumers devote.

　　Gratuitious Assumption--"the total amount of money middle-aged consumers spend is similar to the total amount of money younger customers spend" If it were the case that younger consumers spend much more money in total then it could be more important for stores to focus on their business.

　　Either Or Choice--the author assumes that stocking products to attract more middle-aged consumers and stocking products to attract younger consumers are mutually exclusive alternatives. Perhaps it is possible to increase the store&aposs appeal to older consumers without compromising its appeal to younger crowds.

　　Insufficient Sample--the author concludes that all middle aged people will behave as present-day middle aged people do, but perhaps the determination of where to shop is based upon the customer&aposs generation rather than the customer&aposs age. If that were the case then when today&aposs younger consumers become middle-aged consumers they will continue to shop in stores other than department stores.

　　A. Lacking any information concerning respectively the actual amount of retail ecpenditure of both the middle-aged consumer group and the younger consumers, we can hardly determine whether the increase in middle-aged consumers will certainly bring more sales to department stores.

　　B. Furthermore, the arguer fails to consider the fact that different department stores in different locations may have consumers of different age groups.

　　C. Finally, the arguer ignores the possible negative impact on sales brought about by the decrease in the number of young consumers as a resuly of the recommended invertory adjustment.