Modern marketing is accused of pushing up prices to finance heavy advertising and sales promotion. For example, a dozen tablets of a heavily promoted brand of aspirin sell for the same price as 100 tablets of less promoted brands. Differentiated products—cosmetics, detergents, toiletries—include promotion and packaging costs that can amount to 40 percent or more of the manufacturer’s price to the retailer. Critics charge that much of the packaging and promotion adds only psychological value to the product rather than functional value. Retailers use additional promotion—advertising, displays, and sweepstakes—that add several cents more to retail prices.
Marketers respond that consumers can usually buy functional versions of products at lower prices. However, they want and are willing to pay more for products that also provide psychological benefits—that make them feel wealthy, attractive, or special. Brand-name products may cost more, but branding gives buyers confidence. Heavy advertising adds to product costs but is needed to inform millions of potential buyers of the merits of a brand. If consumers want to know what is available on the market, they must expect manufacturers to spend large sums of money on advertising. Also, heavy advertising and promotion may be necessary for a firm to match competitors’ efforts—the business would lose “share of mind” if it did not match competitive spending. At the same time, companies are cost-conscious about promotion and try to spend their money wisely.
忘记SWT解题技巧的同学复习一下解题口诀：先找转折，再剪修饰，最后剥栗子。接下来我们就来分析一下这道题的解题思路。
文中红色的部分是明确提示不需要看的信号词：
• For example表明了举例的目的，因此整句可以省去。
• Critics charge that这个短句中，critics的意义等同于之前的accused，也就是批评、指责的含义。换言之，这句话的实际目的就是对第一句话进行详细解释。因此可以不用读。
• If 表明了这句话是一个逻辑推论，换言之就是解释。因此也可以省略不计。
蓝色的部分表示了需要关注以及仔细阅读的信号词：
• However以及but都是明确的转折强调，因此句子的前半部分需要无视，而后半部分则需要提取关键词。
• Also以及At the same time都是典型的signposting，后面一般都会有关键词的出现。
教师Sample Answer
这里先提供一个Jeffrey老师给出的Sample Answer，大家可以和自己的答案比较一下：
Marketers respond to accusations that their activities cause prices to be higher than necessary by claiming that marketing helps people to choose brands that make them feel good and that they can rely on, that these activities are necessary to stay competitive and that they do in fact try to avoid unnecessary expense. (53 Words)
以下是五位同学的针对这题给出的答案，其中有一个是满分答案。大家可以来思考一下哪一个答案比较好，其他的答案有什么不足之处。首先跟大家说明一下SWT的评分包含Form 1分，Content 2分，Grammar 2分，Vocabulary 2分，共7分。赶快比照一下自己的答案，看看自己的答案是哪个分数档位的吧~
A. Some people accuse marketing of pushing up prices to finance advertising, sales promotion, packaging and marketer’s salaries, but marketers point out that their activities add value by informing potential buyers of the availability and advantages of a greater choice of brands; which most customers want. (45 Words)
B. Some people claim that marketers cause prices to be higher than necessary due to the expense of promotion and packaging, but marketers reply that they help people to choose brands that make them feel good and that they can rely on, and that these expenses are necessary for their company to stay competitive. (53 Words)
C. Some people criticize marketing for putting prices up but marketers say they add value to products. (16 Words)
D. Some products, such as cosmetics and toiletries, can be more than 40 percent more expensive than they need to be just because of the cost of promotion and packaging, which adds value only in the mind. (36 Words)
E. There are people who claim that marketing pushes up prices unnecessarily due to increased costs of advertising and packaging. HOWEVER, marketers hit back by pointing out that through their activities, customers can choose brands that given them a good feeling and that they need to keep their company competitive. (49 Words)
A答案：这个答案的主要问题是省略了一些关键点，比如confidence以及competitors等等，另外最后分号与which从句的使用方式也并不正确，不过算是一个不错的答案，能拿到5/7分。
B答案：这个答案是最推荐的答案版本。短短的53个词中，对原文进行了较多的Paraphrase，比如confidence = can rely on，又比如competitor = competitive。这些Paraphrase基本都很成功。因此会使得答案分数较高，在此可以拿到满分7/7分。
C答案：这个答案太短，缺失了许多关键词，尤其重要的是缺失了文章的大意，即Marketer的反驳点。这类答案一般出现的原因是只看了两段话的第一句，总体没有什么大错误，可以拿到4/7分。
D答案：这是一个典型的低分答案。学生给出了很多文中的细节，然而并没有抓到主干的信息，这题遗憾的只能拿到0/7分。写出和这个类似答案的同学要注意了，这类答案在PTE考试中很有可能获得0分，你的写作不好很可能就是这个原因。
E答案：这个答案最本质的问题是没有使用一句话，而PTE考试对于SWT的评分首先看的就是Form，如果Form为0分，则Content, Grammar, Vocabulary都不做评分。所以按照这样的评分标准，这个答案也只能拿到0/7分。这点非常重要，各位同学千万不要在这个部分心存侥幸的认为自己即使不是一句话，也能拿到一定的分数。
