Steve Jobs

Famous People

Steve Jobs Pre-Reading Warm Up Questions ☀

1. Steve Jobs helped to make personal computers and computer 1. Have you ever heard of Steve Jobs? If so, what do you
technology available to everyone.
know about him?
2. Steven Paul Jobs was born in Los Altos, California, on February 2. Do you own an Apple computer?
24, 1955. He was adopted when he was a baby and grew up in
3. Can you name any other products made by Apple?
northern California.
4. Have you seen any of the following movies: Toy Story,
3. After high school, Jobs attended college in Portland, Oregon, but A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo? Do you know
left after his first semester to travel in India. When he returned to what these movies have in common?
California, he learned that his high-school friend Steve Wozniak
5. Do you know what it means to be the CEO of a company?
was building computers as a hobby. Wozniak had just invented
the Apple I computer. In 1976 Jobs and Wozniak started 6. What is the difference between computer software and
AppleComputers. They worked out of Jobs’s garage. computer hardware?

4. The Apple II personal computer that they built next appealed to

both business and the public. The computer sold well and the
company prospered until about 1981. That year, IBM began to
take business away from Apple.

5. By then, Jobs and his development team had invented the

Macintosh computer. Unlike the Apple II, the Macintosh was not
very popular at first and Jobs left the company in 1985 after being
fired from the board.

6. After Jobs left Apple, he started his own company, called NeXT
Software. Then, in 1986, he bought Pixar Animation Studios. In
1995, Pixar produced the first entirely computer-generated movie
– Toy Story. It was a big hit, and Pixar went on to produce A
Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters Inc. (2001), and COMPREHENSION ✍
Finding Nemo (2003). These movies made a great deal of money.
A. True or False. Read the statements below. If the
7. Jobs was asked to return to Apple to help it become a leader in the statement is true, write T beside the sentence. If it is
computer field once again. In 1998, Apple introduced its iMac and false, write F. If it is false, correct the information.
iBook personal computers. Jobs became CEO in the year 2000.
1. Steve Jobs invented the Apple I computer.
8. Apple introduced the iPod shortly after Steve Jobs became CEO.
2. Steve Jobs and his partner, Steve Wozniak, started
The iTunes stores was launched in 2003. One year later, Steve
Apple Computers.
Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Jobs beat his cancer
and helped Apple release several important devices, including the 3. The Apple II computer was not very popular.
iPhone and the iPad. He also sold Pixar to Disney. In 2011, Apple
4. The introduction of IBM’s personal computer helped
was declared the wealthiest company in America. Jobs resigned
as CEO that same year. Steve Jobs died on October 5th, 2011. He Apple Computers’ business.
was 56 years old.
5. Steve Jobs died in 2011.

Copyright 2013, Red River Press Inc. For use by members of ESL-library.com in accordance with membership terms. 1
 Steve Jobs
Famous People

B. Practice asking and answering the following questions with your partner. Then write the answers in complete sentences.

1. What did Steve Jobs do after he finished high school?

2. Why did Steve Jobs and his friend, Steve Wozniak, start Apple Computers?
3. Why did Apple Computers have difficulty in the early 1980s? (Give 2 reasons.)
4. What did Steve Jobs do when he left Apple Computers?
5. What does Pixar Animation Studios do?
6. Why did Jobs return to Apple Computers?
7. What happened to Steve Jobs in 2004?

VOCABULARY REVIEW ✍
A. Match the words on the left with the correct meaning on the right. DISCUSS
_____ 1. available a) to step down from a position 1. How has computer technology changed
_____ 2. adopt b) well-liked our lives in the past twenty years?
_____ 3. semester c) do well
_____ 4. invent d) able to be used 2. Apple Computers, the huge international
_____ 5. appeal e) a lot company, grew out of Steve Wozniak’s
_____ 6. public f) create something that didn’t exist before hobby of building computers. Do you
_____ 7. prosper g) legally take a child of other parents as one’s own know anyone else who has turned a hobby
_____ 8. popular h) an area of study or activity into a successful business?
_____ 9. animation i) a school term or period of time
_____ 10. generate j) people or community in general 3. Many movies nowadays use a lot of
_____ 11. hit (a hit) k) making something seem to be alive; cartoons computer technology to generate special
_____ 12. a great deal l) attract effects or create animation. Describe some
_____ 13. field m) produce, make of these films. What did you like or dislike
_____ 14. resign n) a big success about them?

B. Choose the right word from the left column above to complete the following sentences. (You may have to change the verb form
or pluralize a noun.)

1. In the first few years his business was losing money, but now it is finally starting to ___________________.
2. Mr. and Mrs. Lee cannot have their own children, so they decided to ___________________.
3. I want to see that new movie. It’s supposed to be a very big ___________________.
4. Alexander Graham Bell ___________________ the telephone over 100 years ago.
5. John has only one ___________________ left before he graduates from university.
6. This government building is not open to the ___________________. It is for employees only.
7. Steve Jobs made ___________________ of money in his life.
8. I can’t move into the new apartment yet. It won’t be ___________________ until next month.
9. She is planning to go to university next year, but she hasn’t chosen her ___________________ of study yet. She is thinking about
studying to become either a nurse or a teacher.
10. Many people believe that Steve Jobs _____________ due to health problems.

Copyright 2013, Red River Press Inc. For use by members of ESL-library.com in accordance with membership terms. 2
 Steve Jobs
Famous People

ANSWER KEY

Please note:
The reading for this topic is also available in full-page format at the end of the lesson (page 4).

PRE-READING QUESTIONS

1-5. individual answers

6. Computer software is a program or series of instructions that tells a computer what to do. WordPerfect and Mac
OS X for Macintosh computers are examples of software. Computer hardware is made up of all of the physical
components of a computer including the central processing unit (CPU), main storage, auxiliary storage, and
input/output devices.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

A. True or False
1. F 2. T 3. F 4. F 5. T

B. Written Answers
1. After high school, Steve Jobs attended college in Portland, Oregon but left after his first semester to travel in India.
2. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computers because they believed it would be a big success.
3. Apple Computers had difficulty in the early 1980's because a competitor company called IBM introduced its
first personal computer which proved to be very popular. When Apple introduced its own Macintosh computer,
it was not very popular at first and, as a result, Steve Jobs left the company.
4. After Jobs left Apple, he started his own company, called NeXT Software. Then, in 1986, he bought Pixar
Animation Studios.
5. Pixar Animation studios creates computer-generated movies.
6. Steve Jobs returned to Apple Computers to help the company become a leader in the computer field once again.
7. In 2004, Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

VOCABULARY REVIEW

A. Matching
1. d 2. g 3. i 4. f 5. l 6. j 7. c
8. b 9. k 10.m 11. n 12. e 13. h 14. a

B. Choose the right word

1. prosper 2. adopt 3. hit 4. invented 5. semester 6. public
7. a great deal 8. available 9. field 10. resigned

Copyright 2013, Red River Press Inc. For use by members of ESL-library.com in accordance with membership terms. 3
 Famous People
Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs helped to make personal computers and computer technology available to everyone.

Steven Paul Jobs was born in Los Altos, California, on February 24, 1955. He was adopted when he was
a baby and grew up in northern California.

After high school, Jobs attended college in Portland, Oregon, but left after his first semester to travel in
India. When he returned to California, he learned that his high-school friend Steve Wozniak was building
computers as a hobby. Wozniak had just invented the Apple I computer. In 1976 Jobs and Wozniak started
AppleComputers. They worked out of Jobs’s garage.

The Apple II personal computer that they built next appealed to both business and the public. The
computer sold well and the company prospered until about 1981. That year, the IBM began to take
business away from Apple.

By then, Jobs and his development team had invented the Macintosh computer. Unlike the Apple II, the
Macintosh was not very popular at first and Jobs left the company in 1985.

After Jobs left Apple, he started his own company, called NeXT Software. Then, in 1986, he bought Pixar
Animation Studios. In 1995, Pixar produced the first entirely computer-generated movie – Toy Story. It
was a big hit, and Pixar went on to produce A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters Inc.
(2001), and Finding Nemo (2003). These movies made a great deal of money.

Jobs was asked to return to Apple to help it become a leader in the computer field once again. In 1998,
Apple introduced its iMac and iBook personal computers. Jobs became CEO in the year 2000.

Apple introduced the iPod shortly after Steve Jobs became CEO. The iTunes stores was launched in 2003.
One year later, Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Jobs beat his cancer and helped Apple
release several important devices, including the iPhone and the iPad. He also sold Pixar to Disney. In 2011,
Apple was declared the wealthiest company in America. Jobs resigned as CEO that same year. Steve Jobs
died on October 5th, 2011. He was 56 years old.

Copyright 2013, Red River Press Inc. For use by members of ESL-library.com in accordance with membership terms. 4