Читайте также:
|
The original "Mini", which first came out in 1959, remained in production for over 40 years - an incredible success story in the rather unsuccessful modern British car industry. And for most of that time, the most exciting Mini of them all was the Cooper.
During the 1960's in particular, the Mini Cooper was the car of the stars. Mini Coopers won the Monte Carlo Rally four times in a row, from 1964 to 1967 (though the 1966 result was contested); they also won races and other rallies throughout the world. Everyone, film stars, pop stars, sports stars, wanted to have a Mini - preferably a Mini Cooper.
The production of Mini Coopers ceased in the 1970's, but people kept wanting them; so the Cooper Car Company - who designed and made Cooper engines for the Mini - sold conversion kits, to change ordinary Minis into Mini Coopers.
In the 1990's - after 17 years - Rover (who then owned the Mini marque) brought back the Mini Cooper, and new Mini Coopers again rolled off the production line. As before, they were all quickly snapped up by keen buyers - proving that the legend was still very much alive!
Nevertheless, when production of the old Mini came to a stop, that meant the end of the line for the original Mini Cooper; but not for long!
Legendary Mini Cooper BMW, who had taken over Rover, had already decided to bring out a new Mini, and with it a new Mini Cooper!
The new Mini Cooper was thus launched on 1st December 2001, and within a few days all the original batch of cars had been sold! All over the world, racing teams were desperate to get hold of one of the new cars, and to be the first to revive a great legend on the race track or in rallies. And the new Mini Cooper has played a big role in some recent films, such as the remake of the "Italian Job". The new ordinary Mini has certainly achieved the same commercial and popular success as its ancestor; there are waiting lists for the new cars in many countries, including the USA! The legend of the Mini is now over fifty years old; and it is still going strong!
Why Cooper?
The Cooper Works is one of several small British companies, which have a high reputation in the world of motor engineering.
Other similar companies include MacLaren and Williams (for Formula 1 cars), or Morgan and Lotus for sports cars.
The Cooper Car Company was started by Charles Cooper and his son John, just after the Second World War. Coopers specialised in building high performance cars for racing and motor sport - from Formula 1 to rally cars. They were in fact the biggest of the post-war "privateers", small companies who designed and built racing cars for private individuals. One of their customers was Stirling Moss, the great F1 champion.
Today both John and Charles Cooper are dead; but Michael Cooper, John's son, is still in the company, helping to keep up its long reputation.
Vocabulary:
achieve: obtain / достичь
batch: group / партия
cease: stop / прекратиться, остановиться, переставать
customer: client / покупатель, заказчик, потребитель, клиент
event: special occasion / событие
get hold of – obtain / завладеть
in a row: in succession, one after the other / в ряд
keen: avid, very determined / пронзительный, резкий
kit: equipment / снаряжение, комплект инструментов
launch: bring out / запускать
marque: name, brand / марка
preferably: and they preferred to have / предпочтительный
remain: continue / оставаться
snap ped up: buy very quickly / раскупать, разбирать, разхватывать
Exercises:
Make up appropriate questions to which they could correspond.
a) In 1959.
When.......
b) For over 40 years.
How...
c) The Monte Carlo.
Which....
d) Because production of the Mini Cooper ceased.
Why...
e) Because production of all Minis was stopped.
Why...
f) On 1st December.
When...
g) Charles and John Cooper.
Who were....
Дата добавления: 2015-09-11; просмотров: 78 | Поможем написать вашу работу | Нарушение авторских прав |
| <== предыдущая лекция | | | следующая лекция ==> |
| Полисахариды | | | Группа Б |