EPISODE 158
LEVEL A2

READING COMPREHENSION

The world’s cheapest car

One of the biggest problems about buying a car is that you often have to borrow a lot of money so that you can pay for one. In most cases new cars cost tens of thousands of dollars, a price that not everyone can afford. In India, a car maker Tata Motors have brought out the cheapest car in the world: the Nano, first introduced in 2008. It costs only 2,500 dollars plus taxes. Tata director sees the Nano as a „People’s Car”, designed specially for India’s lower middle classes, those who earn less than 200 dollars a month. India makes about 1.2 million cars a year and the idea of a cheap car for everyone makes some experts skeptical. More cars lead to more traffic and more pollution, which also contributes to global warming. One of the biggest trends in producing cars today is keeping them small so you can find a parking space quickly, running them with as little petrol as possible and having room for as many people as possible. This is exactly what the Nano combines. It is only 3 metres long and 1.6 metres high but it still has four doors and room for five people. The car is lightweight, the parts are glued together and there is only one windshield wiper instead of two. The Nano has a 30 horsepower engine and it reaches the speed of up to 100 km an hour and needs about 7.5 liters of fuel per 100 miles. At 2,500 dollars you will only be able to buy the basic model of the Nano, without any extras. Air conditioning and other additional features would raise the price by about 4,000 dollars.

 

Exercise 1
Match the words in bold from the text with their definitions:

1. ______________ = extra
2. ______________ = to have enough money so that you can pay for something
3. ______________ = very simple, without any extras
4. ______________ = to help make something happen
5. ______________ = make a plan of sth
6. ______________ = characteristic
7. ______________ = here: petrol
8. ______________ = show sth/sb to people
9. ______________ = cause
10. ______________ = a liquid that you get from oil; it is used to make cars run
11. ______________ = when air, water and the world around us get dirtier
12. ______________ = to lift
13. ______________ =how fast you travel
14. ______________ = money that the government gets when you buy something

 

Exercise 2
Complete these collocations with the words from the box as they are in the text:

earn / experts / find / global / money / problems

1. one of the biggest _____________
2. to borrow a lot of _____________
3. to _____________ less than 200 dollars
4. to make _____________ skeptical
5. to contribute to _____________ warming
6. to _____________ parking space

 

I know English idioms!

According to the text, Nano is going to be the cheapest car in the worlds. What does it mean however when you say that something “does not come cheap”? You simply mean that it is of good quality and is therefore expensive:

  • If you want a qualified accountant, their services don’t come cheap.

 

 

Phrasals, phrasals…

The topic of this lesson’s reading text is Nano – the cheapest car. Driving cars is in English often expressed by phrasal verbs. Let’s have a look at a few:  to pull out – wyjechać (The car pulled out in front of the bus.)

  • to pull over – zjechać (I pulled over to ask someone the way.)
  • to pull up – zatrzymać się (It started to rain just as we pulled up in front of the restaurant.)

 

 

Grammar corner

One of the biggest problems about buying a car is (…)
One of the biggest trends in producing cars today is (…)
The sentences taken out from the lesson’s text contain a common grammatical structure “one of…” As we can observe, the structure requires the superlative (3rd) form of adjective (“biggest”) and as it names something being part of a bigger group, there must be a noun in plural (“problems”, “trends”), about which Students often seem to forget.

How would you say the following?
1. Jednym z naszych problemów jest spadek cen akcji.
2. Jeden z twoich pracowników ciągle się spóźnia.
3. Jedna z moich księgowych (accountant) kradnie pieniądze.

 

 

GLOSSARY
to borrow – pożyczyć (od kogoś)
to afford – pozwolić sobie na coś
car maker – producent samochodów
to bring out – wypuścić
to introduce – przedstawić
tax – podatek
to design – zaprojektować
lower middle class – klasa średnia niższa
skeptical – sceptyczny
to lead to – prowadzić do
traffic – ruch uliczny
pollution – zanieczyszczenie
to contribute to – przyczyniać się do
global warming – globalne ocieplenie
parking space – miejsce parkingowe
quickly – szybko
petrol – benzyna
to have room for – mieć miejsce dla
to combine – łączyć
lightweight – lekki
to glue – skleić
windshield – przednia szyba
wiper – wycieraczka
horsepower – koń mechaniczny
engine – silnik
to reach – osiągać
speed – prędkość
fuel – paliwo
basic – podstawowy
extra – dodatek
air conditioning – klimatyzacja
additional – dodatkowy
feature – cecha
to raise – podnieść

 

 

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>>Answers

ANSWER KEY
Ex.1
1. additional = extra
2. afford = to have enough money so that you can pay for something
3. basic = very simple, without any extras
4. contribute = to help make something happen
5. design = make a plan of sth
6. feature = characteristic
7. fuel = here: petrol
8. introduce = show sth/sb to people
9. lead to = cause
10. petrol = a liquid that you get from oil; it is used to make cars run
11. pollution = when air, water and the world around us get dirtier
12. raise = to lift
13. speed =how fast you travel
14. tax = money that the government gets when you buy something

Ex. 2
1. one of the biggest problems
2. to borrow a lot of money
3. to earn less than 200 dollars
4. to make experts skeptical
5. to contribute to global warming
6. to find a parking space
Ex. Grammar corner
1. One our problems is a decrease in the price of shares.
2. One of your workers is always late.
3. One of my accountants is stealing money.

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