Leaders of the Pak
Gad and Hans Rausing are among the richest men in Britain, their wealth surpassing even that of the Queen. These Swedish brothers, who came to Britain in 1983, have made their millions from one product – TetraPak, the aluminium and plastic laminated container for milk and fruit juice found all over the world. One evening near Christmas 1944, a young Swedish economist called Ruben Rausing was watching his wife Elizabeth making sausages in the small kitchen of their home in the university town of Lund, Sweden. He was impressed by the manner in which the sausages were contained in a skin and kept fresh by pressing shut each end. So, he began questioning his wife about the method she used. Their conversation that evening was to lead to the invention that would revolutionize lives throughout the world, and make the couple – and their family – billionaires. For Ruben was to apply the principle to milk, inventing the low-cost, germ-free packaging system which he called TetraPak – a roll of cardboard twisted to make a pocket and sealed into a rectangular carton. Today if you buy milk or orange juice at virtually any supermarket from Dublin to Peking it will have come from Rausing’s idea that day in his kitchen. This is the legend of TetraPak. However, it seems that the reality could be rather different. It is certainly true that Ruben realized the huge potential if a form of germ-free sealed packaging could be found for household items such as milk. But the alternative version of the story suggests that at this point he approached Erik Wallenberg, a young research scientist working for his company. Wallenberg claims that he is in fact the person who designed the first TetraPak, working from an idea originated by Ruben. Now aged 78, he recalls the day Ruben Rausing came to him. Rausing told him that he had bought a herd of cows which needed milking, and wanted a container made to package the milk. Rolling up a piece of paper to demonstrate the process he continued. ‘I made up my mind that a cylinder – a tube – should be made and that it should be pressed together at one end. I decided it should also be pressed together at the other end. However, to avoid a flat cushion-like package which could contain only a small amount of liquid, I decided to make the second pressing together in a plane at right angles to the first one … that is simply how the TetraPak was born’. Ruben bought the patent and all the rights from Wallenberg for 3,000 kronor (a little less than ₤300), which to some people was a half a year’s wages at that time. After a while the first mentioned story of the invention began to emerge – that it had all been the work of Mr. Ruben Rausing. Whatever is the reality, by 1952 the first TetraPak containers were being successfully produced, and in a few years Ruben had built up a huge business. By the late fifties all three of Ruben’s sons had joined their father within the company.
Выберите правильный вариант ответа на вопрос: What does the article say about TetraPak package? ВАРИАНТЫ ОТВЕТОВ:
ЗАДАНИЕ № 42 (- выберите один вариант ответа) Выберите правильный вариант ответа: The person who designed the first TetraPak is ВАРИАНТЫ ОТВЕТОВ:
ЗАДАНИЕ № 43 (- выберите один вариант ответа) Выберите правильный вариант ответа: According to the legend the idea of TetraPak came to Ruben Rausing when he was ВАРИАНТЫ ОТВЕТОВ:
ЗАДАНИЕ № 44 (- выберите один вариант ответа) Выберите правильный вариант ответа: Who did Ruben Rausing first discuss his idea with? ВАРИАНТЫ ОТВЕТОВ:
ЗАДАНИЕ № 45 (- выберите один вариант ответа) Выберите правильный вариант ответа: What is the most important feature of TetraPak? ВАРИАНТЫ ОТВЕТОВ:
ЗАДАНИЕ № 46 (- выберите один вариант ответа) Выберите правильный вариант ответа на вопрос: What was Rausing’s nationality? ВАРИАНТЫ ОТВЕТОВ:
ЗАДАНИЕ № 47 (- выберите один вариант ответа)
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