2014英语四级听力练习慢速3.25(1)_大学英语听力

2014英语四级听力练习慢速3.25(1)

　　The Detroit city government first attempted to sell the Packard Plant in October of . A Spanish-born businessman, Fernando Palazuelo, was the third person to make an offer at a government auction. The first person offered six million dollars, but failed to make the full payment. A man who had offered two million dollars for the property also failed to pay. Finally, in , the city accepted Mr. Palazuelos offer. He reportedly paid only $405,000 for the Packard Plant.

　　The story of the Packard Plant begins in 1903 with two American brothers and a German immigrant. The brothers, William and James Ward Packard, thought they could build a better car. The immigrant, architect Albert Kahn, thought he could design a better factory.

　　The Packard brothers moved some of their business operations to Detroit in 1903. They asked Kahn to design new factory buildings for the Packard Motor Car Company. His design included tall windows that gave factory workers plenty of light and fresh air. Kahn made the daylight factory popular. He used wood, brick and other traditional building materials in the first eight buildings. Then the architect began using reinforced concrete. This material helped protect buildings from being destroyed by fire. It is for this reason that the Packard plant has survived longer than the company that built it.

　　Packard cars were the favorite cars of the rich in the early 20th century. In 1921, Warren G. Harding was the first American president to drive to his swearing-in ceremony. President Harding declared that America was in the age of what he called the motor car.