Paper 55
The History of Lego
The small, colorful bricks that encourage a child's imagination with their multitude of building
possibilities 1. __________ have spawned two movies and Legoland theme parks over decades.
But more than that, these simple building blocks keep children as young as 5 engaged in creating
castles, towns and space stations, and anything else their creative minds can think of. This is the
epitome of the educational toy wrapped up in fun. These attributes have made Lego an icon in
the toy world.
Beginnings
The company that makes these famous interlocking bricks started as a small shop in Billund,
Denmark. The company 2. ___________ was established in 1932 by master carpenter Ole Kirk
Christiansen, who 3. ___________ was aided by his 12-year-old son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. It
made wooden toys, stepladders, and ironing boards. It wasn't until two years later that the
business took the name of Lego, which came from the Danish words "LEg GOdt," meaning "play
well."
Throughout the next several years, the company 4. __________ grew exponentially. From just a
handful of employees in the early years, Lego 5. __________ had grown to 50 employees by
1948. The product line had grown as well, with the addition of a Lego duck, clothes hangers, a
Numskull Jack on the goat, a plastic ball for babies, and some wooden blocks.
In 1947, the company made a huge purchase that was to transform the company and make it
world-famous and a household name. In that year, Lego bought a plastic injection-molding
machine, which could mass produce plastic toys. During the year of 1949, Lego 6. __________
was using this machine to produce about 200 different kinds of toys, which included automatic
binding bricks, a plastic fish and a plastic sailor. The automatic binding bricks were the
predecessors of the Lego toys of today.
Birth of the Lego Brick
In 1953, the automatic binding bricks were renamed Lego bricks. In 1957, the interlocking
principle of Lego bricks was born, and in 1958, the stud-and-coupling system 7. __________ was
patented, which added significant stability to built pieces. And this transformed them into the
Lego bricks children use today. Also in 1958, Ole Kirk Christiansen 8. __________ died and his son
Godtfred became head of the Lego company.
By the early 1960s, Lego 9. __________ had gone international, with sales in Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, and Lebanon. In the next decade,
Lego toys were available in more countries, and they came to the United States in 1973.
Ans
1.have spawned
2.was established
3.was aided
4.grew
5. had grown
6.was using
7. was patented
8.died
9.had gone
The small, colorful bricks that encourage a child's imagination with their multitude of building
possibilities have spawned two movies and Legoland theme parks. But more than that, these
simple building blocks keep children as young as 5 engaged in creating castles, towns and space
stations, and anything else their creative minds can think of. This is the epitome of the
educational toy wrapped up in fun. These attributes have made Lego an icon in the toy world.
Beginnings
The company that makes these famous interlocking bricks started as a small shop in Billund,
Denmark. The company was established in 1932 by master carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, who
was aided by his 12-year-old son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. It made wooden toys, stepladders,
and ironing boards. It wasn't until two years later that the business took the name of Lego, which
came from the Danish words "LEg GOdt," meaning "play well."
Over the next several years, the company grew exponentially. From just a handful of employees
in the early years, Lego had grown to 50 employees by 1948. The product line had grown as well,
with the addition of a Lego duck, clothes hangers, a Numskull Jack on the goat, a plastic ball for
babies, and some wooden blocks.
In 1947, the company made a huge purchase that was to transform the company and make it
world-famous and a household name. In that year, Lego bought a plastic injection-molding
machine, which could mass produce plastic toys. By 1949, Lego was using this machine to
produce about 200 different kinds of toys, which included automatic binding bricks, a plastic fish
and a plastic sailor. The automatic binding bricks were the predecessors of the Lego toys of today.
Birth of the Lego Brick
In 1953, the automatic binding bricks were renamed Lego bricks. In 1957, the interlocking
principle of Lego bricks was born, and in 1958, the stud-and-coupling system was patented,
which added significant stability to built pieces. And this transformed them into the Lego bricks
children use today. Also in 1958, Ole Kirk Christiansen died and his son Godtfred became head of
the Lego company.
By the early 1960s, Lego had gone international, with sales in Sweden, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, and Lebanon. Over the next decade, Lego toys were
available in more countries, and they came to the United States in 1973.
