READING TEXT

TEXT 1
(1) The Ford Motor Company has revealed plans to invest over $11 billion dollars in the development
and production of electric cars by 2022. The announcement was made public at the Detroit Motor Show.
(2) The American carmaker plans to produce 16 fully battery-driven vehicles and 24 hybrid cars by
2022. At the moment, the focus is the only Ford car that can be driven by batteries alone. Apart from
producing electric-driven cars for the North American market, Ford also aims at increasing sales to
China, the largest growing car market in the world. In addition, it wants to become the world's leader in
fuel-efficient trucks.
(3) The car producer also plans to bring a battery-driven SUV on the market by 2022.
(4) Instead of creating completely new electric vehicles from scratch, Ford wants to electrify cars that
are already popular because people will know what they get and buy more easily.
Automobile manufacturers around the world are under pressure to develop electric cars because many
large countries, including China, India, France and the U.K. have said they would phase out vehicles
powered by internal combustion engines within the next two decades.
(5) They also face fierce competition from companies like Tesla, a car-maker that
specialises in innovative technologies.
Source: english-online.at

TEXT 2
In the United States, it's the gas and Thanksgiving dinner and holiday toys. In the United Kingdom, it's
the energy costs and snacks and Uber fares. In Brazil, it's the cost of food. In Germany, it's fuel, rent,
and electronics.
Consumers around the world are seeing higher prices for goods and services, and though some reasons
for this vary by country, inflation is turning into something of a worldwide phenomenon.
In the US, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks what consumers pay for goods and services,
rose by percent in October compared to a year ago, the fastest increase since 1990. But other parts of the
world are also seeing bumps: The eurozone (all countries using the euro) saw its inflation at about
percent, the highest in 13 years.
Covid-19, which has wreaked havoc on global supply chains, gets a lot of the blame for this.
"Underneath it all, the Rey theme is a Covid disruption," said Gregory Daco, chief US economist at
Oxford Economics. "That's the key reason why we're seeing inflationary pressures around the world."
It turns out, the global economy can go a little haywire when a once-in-a-generation pandemic rolls
around. The virus scrambled supply chains, squeezed off international travel, and shut down businesses
and services. Now, even as the world is recovering from these shocks, Covid-19 is still surging and
resurging, and combined with other disruptions - like
climate-related events - supply chains are still trying to sort themselves out.

TEXT 3
Cars are becoming more and more technologically advanced. In the past decade, we have seen
improvements in electric car technology and driverless cars.
(1) The latest advance comes from Mercedes-Benz. (2) The luxury carmaker has unveiled a car that lets
you use your mind to control certain things. The car giant unveiled its futuristic car at the IAA Mobility
show in Munich earlier this week. The car is called Vision AVTR. The four capitalized letters at the end
of its name are to make people think of the movie Avatar. (3) This movie was about using the brain to
connect with nature.
Mercedes spokeswoman Britta Seeger spoke about how exciting she thought the futuristic car was. The
car would not be available for purchase any time soon. (4) It is currently in the concept stage of
production. She said: "Mercedes-Benz is setting another milestone in the merging of man and machine."
The Mercedes website says: "As soon as you get in, the car
becomes an extension of your own body and a tool to discover the environment."