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| The Legendary Mini Cooper |
To those who know
their cars, the "Mini" is a legend; and in that legend there is one
very
special type of Mini that is an even bigger legend; the Mini Cooper.
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 transform 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!
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 is certainly achieving
the same commercial and popular success as its ancestor; there are
waiting
lists for the new cars in many countries, including the USA! But can
the
new Cooper achieve the same level of success in the competitive world
of
motor sport?
We'll soon begin to find out!
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.
|
WORDS
achieve: obtain - batch: group
- cease:
stop - customer:
client - event:
special occasion - for
long: for a long time - get
hold of - obtain - in
a row: in succession, one after
the other - keen:
avid, very determined - kit:
equipment - launch:
bring out - marque:
name, brand - preferably:
and they
preferred to have - remain:
continue - snap up:
buy very quickly - |
Exercises:
Irregular verbs: Find
the preterite form or of the following verbs in the text:
come:
win:
keep:
make:
sell:
bring:
mean:
build:
Phrasal verbs: Pay
attention to the verbs below, which are used in the article. ....Do you
know, or can you guess, the meanings of each of these?
Came out
Bring back
Snap up
Take over
Bring out
Get hold of
Find out
Keep up.
Definite articles:
(Click
here for a guide
to using definite articles in English)
In the
following extract from
the article, replace the definite articles where they are needed....
but
do not replace them where they are not possible!!
Remember, you NEED
a definite article with a singular count noun (countable item), you do
NOT NEED one with generalisations. You also need an article in cases of
normal apposition.
In some cases in
English, there may be a choice: but not in the exercise below!!
(
_____) Cooper Works is one of several small British
companies, which have a high reputation in ( _____) world of ( _____)
motor
engineering.
Other
similar companies include MacLaren and Williams
(for Formula 1 cars), or Morgan and Lotus for ( _____) sports cars.
(
_____) Cooper Car Company was started by Charles Cooper
and his son John, just after ( _____) 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 (
_____)
biggest of ( _____) post-war "privateers", small companies who designed
and built ( _____) racing cars for ( _____) private individuals. One of
their customers was Stirling
Moss, ( _____) great F1 champion.
Today
both John and Charles Cooper are dead; but Michael
Cooper, ( _____) John's son, is still in ( _____) company, helping to
keep
up its long reputation.
Comprehension
questions:
Here are some
answers: 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 ....
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