Given all that he accomplished, it's hard to believe that Henry Ford was almost 4 when he established the Ford Motor Company. At the time America was more agricultural than industri Al, and horseless carriages were toys for a wealth. But in just four decades, Henry Ford had, in his own words, "Invented the modern age."
Henry Ford
Henry Ford had only a limited education. He didn't invent the gasoline engine. He didn't invent the car. In fact, he never really invented anything. However, when he died in 1947, Ford and the company he founded had a profound impact on the world where he taught to drive.
In view of all his achievements, it is hard to believe that Henry Ford was nearly 4 years old when he founded Ford Motor Company. At that time, the United States was more agricultural than industrial, and carriages without horses were toys for a few rich people. But in just forty years, Henry Ford, in his own words, "invented modernity".
Yesterday we talked about the German engineer Karl Benz who invented the world's first car in 1885. However, cars at that time were only affordable for a few rich people. To really talk about letting cars enter every household, we have to mention one person, that is, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company in the United States.
On October 1st, 198, Ford Motor Company introduced Model T. Because of its excellent performance and low price, this car was very popular as soon as it came out.
But at that time, the technicians of Ford Motor Company could only produce 25 Model T cars a day on a fixed workbench, and the demand for Model T cars soon exceeded supply. So, in order to improve production efficiency, Henry Ford came up with a great pioneering work and applied the moving assembly line to automobile manufacturing for the first time. This move not only greatly improved the production efficiency, but also greatly reduced the production cost, turning the car into a real mass travel tool.
The clip we are going to learn today comes from the 1994 American A&; A documentary about Henry Ford produced by E Biography. Now, let's listen to today's clip and get a more three-dimensional understanding of Henry Ford:
Let's take a look at today's clip sentence by sentence:
Henry Ford had only a modem education.
Modest, as an adjective, basically means "moderate, not too much". modest education here is a euphemism, that is,
Henry Ford was born on a farm in Michigan in 1863, but he was not interested in agriculture since he was a child, but was fascinated by machinery. On his 13th birthday, his father gave him a mechanical watch. Like many boys, he took the watch apart in order to find out what was inside and outside. But unlike many boys, he can reassemble a disassembled watch.
out of his love for machinery, Henry Ford went to Detroit as an apprentice machinist when he was 16 years old, which is why he said in the first sentence that his education level was not high.
Then there are three parallel sentences, which show us what Henry Ford called "ordinary" step by step:
He didn't invent the gasoline engine. He didn't invent the gasoline engine.
engine also has a transliteration in Chinese, which is the familiar "engine".
He didn't invent the automobile. He didn't invent the automobile.
In fact,
He never really invented anything. He never invented anything.
Then there is a turning point:
And yet
by the time he died in 1947, by the time he died in 1947,
Ford and the company he founded Ford and the company he founded
had a proven effect had a far-reaching impact
Where did it have a far-reaching impact?
on the world he taught to drive.
he taught to drive here is used as a postattribute to modify the world, that is, to the world where he taught to drive.
In addition, there is a good structure in this sentence, which means "have a+adj.+effect on sth.".
Although he didn't invent anything, in 1891, when Henry Ford was 28 years old, he became an engineer of Edison Lighting Company of Detroit, and in the next five years, he learned a lot of professional skills in the mechanical field and made many skilled engineers friends.
five years later, with the continuous maturity of conditions, Henry Ford made his first car and named it "Ford Quadricycle".
In p>193, after two failed ventures, Henry Ford finally founded the Ford Motor Company, and designed and manufactured the fastest car in the world at that time, running a mile in 39.4 seconds, which gradually made the brand "Ford" famous in the United States. Then Ford Motor Company launched Model T, which made the car quickly enter the families of ordinary Americans.
By 1927, Ford Motor Company had produced 15 million Model T cars. It can be said that most American drivers learned to drive through Model T cars at that time. This is why it is said that Henry Ford taught the technology of driving in the world at that time.
Given all that he complied,
given here is a preposition, which means "considering; Since "means" when all his achievements are taken out ",because these achievements cannot be taken out by themselves, the past participle Given is used. According to Chinese logic, that is to say, in view of all his achievements,
it's hard to believe
what do you believe? Then there is a subject clause led by that:
that Henry Ford was almost 4 Henry Ford is close to 4 years old
followed by a time adverbial clause led by when:
when he established the Ford motor company.
Let's read this sentence completely again:
Given all that he completed, it's hard to believe that Henry Ford was almost 4 when he established the Ford Motor Company. Given all his achievements, it's hard to believe that Henry Ford was nearly 4 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company.
The implication of this sentence is that it is very rare for a 4-year-old man to start a business and make such great achievements in a short time.
let's continue to look down:
At the time
America was more agricultural than industrial, the United States was relatively more agricultural than industrialized,
horseless carriages without horses
were toys for a wealthy few.
a wealthy few here means "a few rich people".
But in just four decades,
Henry Ford had, in his own words, "invented the modern age."
In his own words here is an parenthesis, which is a sentence in the past perfect tense. Henry Ford, in his own words, "invented modernity". The so-called modern age here is the era when cars on the street gradually replaced carriages and became the mainstream means of transportation.
In addition, some students may wonder why "4 years" is not directly said as 4 years in this sentence, but as four decades. This involves an expression skill. In this context of "short time", although the two expressions of "four decades" and "4 years" seem to have the same meaning on the surface, the number 4 is much smaller than 4, which will make everyone feel the message of "short time", thus better conveying the implied information that the narrator wants to express and making everyone feel the speed.
/ Today's Summary /
In fact, Henry Ford's achievement is not only to let many Americans drive cars. A man who is close to 4 years old, has a family and a career, and his mind is very mature. While reducing the cost of car manufacturing, Henry Ford also fully considers the employees of his company.
At that time, due to the introduction of the assembly line, the workers in the workshop were assigned to a fixed working position, and they were doing a lot of repetitive work mechanically every day, which made many employees feel like machine parts, and they could not find any personal dignity during their work. In order to improve employees' happiness index, Henry Ford then offered employees the highest salary in the whole industry: the minimum wage for employees was $5 per day (equivalent to $13 per day now), which was more than twice the market wage in the automobile industry at that time, which promoted the local economic development at once and attracted a large number of outstanding engineers from other automobile companies to join Ford Motor Company. More importantly, Ford's high salary standard enables ordinary workers in the company to afford to drive a Ford car through their own salary, which can be said to be a real kill three birds with one stone.
Although in the later period, Ford Motor Company suffered several ups and downs in different stages of history, Henry Ford's great contribution to human society in the 2th century won the recognition of everyone.