2014届高考英语一轮复习话题阅读素材3_高考复习指南

2014届高考英语一轮复习话题阅读素材3

The Founders of Rolls-Royce (I) Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it. -- Henry Royce Rolls-Royce is any of the large luxury cars manufactured by the British company Rolls-Royce. Many people recognize them by the small metal statue on the front of every Rolls-Royce. The company was founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce, who came from very different backgrounds with different educations and, until shortly before they met, their careers were going in very different directions. Yet in 1904, they joined forces to build and sell motor cars.

And, just two years later, the partnership had produced the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost: a car acclaimed as the "best in the world". In the late 1800's, Henry Royce and Charles Rolls were going through experiences which made their meeting and the cars they produce almost inevitable. Royce, the son of a miller, had, by any standards, a difficult start in life. He began work at 10, selling newspaper. But he soon found his first real job working as an apprentice for the Great Northern Railway in Peterborough. It was while he was there that he learnt most of the basics of engineering. Even at that age, Royce was determined to do well because he set about teaching himself foreign languages, algebra and the fundamentals of electricity. At 19, he went to Liverpool as technical advisor to the Lancashire Maxim and Western Electric Company. And then, just three years later, he and a partner set up business in Manchester, making electric light fittings and cranes. Such was Royce's determination that by the turn of the century the order books were full and the business was going from strength to strength. All this, of course, was quite an achievement for someone who had started almost literally with nothing. But the real turning point was yet to come. This happened in 1903 when Royce bought himself a second hand French car. The car was difficult to start; it overheated with depressing regularity; it vibrated; it was unreliable and the ignition system was hopelessly inefficient.