12. Advertising by mail has become much less effective, with fewer consumers responding. Because consumers are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of junk mail they receive, most discard almost all offers without considering them. Thus, an effective way for corporations to improve response rates would be to more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising, thereby cutting down on the amount of junk mail each consumer receives.
Which of the following, if true, would most support the recommendation above?

A、 There are cost-effective means by which corporations that currently advertise by mail could improve response rates.
B、 Many successful corporations are already carefully targeting the individuals to whom they mail advertising.
C、 Any consumer who, immediately after receiving an advertisement by mail, merely glances at it, is very likely to discard it.
D、 Improvements in the quality of the advertising materials used in mail that is carefully targeted to individuals can improve the response rate for such mail.
E、 Response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher, on average, than response rates to most other forms of advertising.

【正确答案】 E

【答案解析】 Evaluation of a Plan
Situation Advertising by mail has become less effective because consumers overwhelmed with the amount of
junk mail they receive discard almost all of it without considering it.
Reasoning What would most help to support the claim that making mail advertising more carefully targeted would
improve response rates? The passage recommends targeted advertising, reasoning that since targeted
advertising would reduce the total amount of junk mail consumers receive, it would generate
higher response rates. Any additional evidence for the claim that carefully targeted advertising
would improve response rates would support this recommendation.
A Even if targeted advertising and every other means of improving response rates were too expensive to be cost-effective, targeted advertising could still be effective for any corporation willing to pay the expense.
B If many corporations already mail targeted advertising, and mail advertising is nonetheless yielding declining response rates, that suggests that targeted mail is an ineffective way to increase response rates.
C This could be equally true for targeted and untargeted mail advertising, so it does not suggest that the former is more effective.
D The question under consideration is whether more carefully targeted mail advertising would in itself increase response rates, not whether higher quality advertising would do so.
E Correct. This provides some evidence that carefully targeted mail advertising is associated with higher response rates than untargeted mail advertising is, and therefore that targeting mail advertising more carefully would improve response rates.
The correct answer is E.