28440 Bài thực hành nghe Tiếng Anh nâng cao - Bài: Rolls-Royce record sales - Thẩm Tâm Vy - Năm 2018 (Có âm thanh)

 Thẩm Tâm Vy, January 30th, 2019 PRACTISE LISTENING ~ ROLLS-ROYCE CARS 
ROLLS-ROYCE RECORD SALES 
 Nowadays, many of the world’s biggest car companies have difficulties. Their sales 
are falling. Some companies may decide to close factories and reduce production. 
However, these problems have not affected one of the smaller car companies. On 10th 
January, the boss of RollsRoyce Motor Cars announced the company’s annual results. 
In 2018, it sold 4,107 vehicles, or a record number of cars. 
 The Rolls-Royce Company was founded 115 years ago. Henry Royce (1863 – 1933) 
was a British engineer. Between 1901 and 1903, he bought two cars. Both were made in 
France. Royce was not impressed by their workmanship. He decided to design and build 
his own car. After completing it, he made two more. 
 In 1904, a friend introduced Royce to Charles Rolls (1877 –1910). Rolls came from a 
wealthy family and had studied at Cambridge University. He had set up one of the first 
car showrooms. It was in London, the UK’s capital city. Rolls sold cars, but did not 
make them. Royce’s cars impressed him. The two men agreed to set up a company 
together. Called Rolls-Royce, it would produce luxury cars. Rolls-Royce cars soon 
developed a reputation for reliability and quality. Some car owners began attaching 
mascots, or emblems, to their cars. The Rolls-Royce Company thought that some of 
these would be inappropriate for its cars. The company paid a sculptor to produce a 
Rolls-Royce mascot. It would be affixed to the front of all the company’s cars. 
 The sculptor created the figure of a young woman. Leaning forward, her arms are 
outstretched behind. The woman’s dress, being blown behind her, makes it look as if 
she has wings. The company named its mascot ‘the Spirit of Ecstasy’. This figure still 
adorns all Rolls-Royce cars. 
 Rolls died in 1910. The aircraft he was flying crashed. Rolls was a keen pilot. At that 
time, aeroplanes were a new invention. Aged 32, Rolls was the first British person to die 
in an engine-propelled aircraft accident. Despite Rolls’s death, the company’s success 
continued. 
 In the 1930s, Rolls-Royce began making aircraft engines. Many British warplanes 
used in the Second World War (1939 – 1945) had Rolls-Royce engines. After the war, 
the company designed and manufactured jet engines. In the 1970s, it had financial 
problems. For a time, Rolls-Royce was owned and run by the British government. Later, 
the company was split. One part, RollsRoyce Motor Cars, made automobiles. The other, 
called Rolls-Royce, produced aircraft engines. Today, many of the world’s passenger 
aircraft have Rolls-Royce engines. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars continued to enhance its 
reputation for producing high-end cars. Kings, queens, presidents, and prime ministers 
in many countries are driven in Rolls-Royces. In 1998, two German carmakers, 
Volkswagen (VW) and BMW, bought parts of the Rolls-Royce Company. Eventually, 
the German companies made an agreement. Starting in 2003, BMW was allowed to 
produce complete cars using the Rolls-Royce name. 
 Nowadays, large car companies operate high-tech factories with automatic machinery 
and robots. Rolls-Royce continues to make its cars by hand at the company’s single 
factory in the UK. Currently, its best sellers are the Ghost and the Phantom. The price of 
the least expensive versions of these cars is £237,600 (US$308,300) and £360,000 
(US$467,100). 
 Around 10% of Rolls-Royce’s cars are sold in the UK. Last year, over 30% of the 
company’s annual output was exported to the USA. Hong Kong, in China, is the city 
with most Rolls-Royce owners. 
 The company’s worldwide reputation for making reliable cars has not diminished. 
Over 65% of all Rolls-Royce cars made since 1904 can still be driven, or remain 
roadworthy. This, the company says, is why ‘ordering a Rolls-Royce is like 
commissioning a piece of art’.