《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词4500》33 The Founder of Rolls-Royce (II)

（单词翻译）

　　Unit 33
The Founder¹ of Rolls-Royce (II)
About the same time, Charles Rolls was also in business for himself, like Royce, very successfully. But achieving this had been rather less of a struggle for Rolls than it was for his future partner. Rolls was born into the aristocracy, being the third son of Lord and Lady Llangattock. The landed gentry² were never expected to work in those days and Rolls, like most young men in similar families, was reared for a life of ease and luxury. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge University where his natural talent for engineering work enabled him to gain a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied³ Sciences. It was while he was still at Cambridge that he began to take an interest in the fledgling motor industry. He went to France with his father and on his return bought himself a car, which soon made a name for himself with Rolls at the wheel. It was the first car ever seen at Cambridge. By the time Rolls graduated, he was probably the most skilful⁴ driver in the country. In 1902, Rolls had gone into business for himself selling motor cars and the firm, known as CS Rolls Co. quickly became a leading motor car distributor.
Rolls, however, still had two major ambitions. First he wanted his name to be associated with cars in the same way as Chubb's was with safes and Steinway's was with pianos. And, secondly⁵, he wanted to find a British car as good or preferably better than the foreign cars he was then selling. But he very nearly missed his chance to achieve both these aims at once because when Henry Edmunds, a shareholder⁶ in Royce Ltd, told Rolls about Henry Royce's new 2 cylinder⁷ car, Rolls assumed that it would be as noisy and inefficient⁸ as all the other 2 cylinder cars on the road. He was, of course, wrong and Henry Edmunds persuaded Rolls to make the trip up to Manchester to see the car.
Rolls, Edmunds and Royce met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester and the meeting was an immediate⁹ success. Rolls tried the car and became a wholehearted enthusiast¹⁰ and he said afterwards that Royce "was the man I have been looking for years". An agreement was quickly reached giving Rolls exclusive sales rights for all the cars Royce could produce and the two men really got down to work. On December 23rd, 1904, a contract between the two companies was signed, including a clause stipulating¹¹ that all the cars should be called "Rolls-Royce".
The story of the brand goes back 100 years and its name has become linked with that of Bentley Motors since the 1930s. But the greatest change in its long and illustrious history took place towards the end of the last millennium¹². The company had been owned by British defense¹³ group Vickers plc since 1980, and was sold to the highest bidder¹⁴ -- Volkswagen -- in 1998. The German car maker¹⁵ took control of Bentley and the factory in Crewe, Cheshire but the right to the famous Rolls-Royce name was retained by aero engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce plc.