The engineer Camilla Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in Ivrea, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company’s head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much larger than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world,
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13.000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camillo’s son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduced a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and design specialist. The company developed new and better typewriters and then calculators(计算器). In 1959 it produced the ELEA computer system. This was the first mainframe(主机) computer designed and made in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problem. Other companies, especially the Japanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marketing and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one of the world’s leading companies in information technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group—one for personal computers, one for other office equipment, one for systems and service, and two for telecommunications.
小题1:From the text we learn that
A．by 1930 Olivetti produced 13.000 typewriters a year
B．Olivetti earned more in the 1960s than in the 1950s
C．some of Olivetti’s 700 staff regularly visited customers in Italy
D．Olivetti set up offices in other countries from the very beginning小题2:What was probably the direct result of Olivetti’s falling behind in electronic technology
A．Adriano’s death
B．A period of financial problems
C．Its faster progress
D．Its agreements with other companies.小题3:What do we know about Olivetti?
A．It produced the best typewriter in the world.
B．It designed the world’s first mainframe computer.
C．It exported more typewriters than other companies.
D．It has five independent companies with its head office in Ivrea.小题4:The best title for the text would be
A．The Origin of Olivetti.
B．The Success of Olivetti.
C．The History of Olivetti
D．The Production of Olivetti.
