How to Live Before You Die
by Steve Jobs
EXERCISES
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
a. What is the story about Steve Jobs’ birth?
Answer: Steve Jobs was given birth by an unwed college student. She
decided to put him for adoption during her pregnancy. She wanted her baby to be
adopted by an educated family so all was set for him to be adopted by a
lawyer’s family. To adopt Steve Jobs, a lawyer's family became ready at first.
But, after the birth of him, the lawyer's family changed their mind to adopt
him because they wanted to adopt a girl. Later on, he was adopted by an
uneducated couple named Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs.
b. What does he mean when he says, “you can’t connect the dots
looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards”?
Answer: Here in his line, he means our future is uncertain and
unpredictable. If we do hard labour at present, it will certainly lead us to
success in future. In the same way, our successes and failures of present time
depend on our past's different dots but not in our future's dots. The determiner
of our present and future is our past as well as different dots of our life. We
can’t predict the future but life makes sense when we look at history.
c. What happened when Steve Jobs turned 30?
Answer: When Steve Jobs turned 30, he got fired from his own company
Apple by the board of directors.
d. Jobs contends that you need to love to do what you do in order
to be great at it. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Answer: Yes, I agree with his opinions because our love and devotion
for our work can lead us towards success. If we love the work with interest, we
will certainly become successful. To be great in our work, it's very much
important for all of us to love our work which we do.
e. Is death really life’s greatest invention?
Answer: Yes, death is really life's greatest invention. Death is
inevitable and nobody lives for forever. Because of death, all want to be
mortal. To be mortal, they try to invent something great in their life
therefore death is life's change agent also.
REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT
a. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that
follow:
“We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They
said: “Of course.”
i. Who was the baby boy?
Answer: The baby boy was Steve Jobs.
ii. What does ‘do you want him?’ mean?
Answer: 'Do you want him?' means a question related to Steve Jobs'
adoption. This question is asked by Steve Jobs’ biological mother to his
parents Paul and Clara Jobs who are in the waiting list to adopt the baby.
iii. Who does ‘they’ refer to?
Answer: 'They' refer to Steve Jobs’ parents who are waiting to adopt
him.
b. Explain the following lines:
i. “You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life,
karma, whatever.”
Answer: This line has been delivered by the CEO and co-founder of
Apple Computer Steve Jobs in his speech at Stanford University. Here in this
line, Steve Jobs advises all the people keep faith and trust in these vital
aspects of their life like gut, destiny, life, karma etc. According to Steve
Jobs, these aspects move along with success. The trust in these aspects can lead
anyone to extreme success. They certainly make differences in our lives.
ii. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s
life.”
Answer: This line has been delivered by the CEO and co-founder of
Apple Computer Steve Jobs in his speech at Stanford University. Here in this line,
he is advising people about the importance of time that keeps on running so
fast. According to him, we have to utilize our time which is so limited. We
shouldn't waste our time living someone else's life. Within this short period,
we have to make the right use of our time to bright our future. Time waits for
none. Time is primary whereas other things are secondary. We should move ahead
without wasting our time.
c. What does he mean by “don’t settle”?
Answer: By "don't settle", he means to suggest people
about not settling down the search for the best and satisfactory tasks which
they prefer to do. He means to say that we must keep looking for our best works
which satisfy us. We should try our best to find suitable tasks. We shouldn't
settle down in the matter of our desirable tasks until we find our right tasks
that satisfy us. According to him, ‘If we don’t settle, we can certainly lead
our life to the journey of success.’
d. Which style of speech is used by the speaker to persuade the
audiences?
Answer: To persuade the audiences,
personal, informal style of speech is used by the speaker. His speech seems a
narrative type where he tries his best to motivate his audiences through his
real life-related stories. He uses autobiographical anecdotes in his
speech which has tripartite structure. The speech is simple and short based on
a lot of encouragement.
e. It is not easy to motivate others. How do you think Steve Jobs’
speech is so inspiring?
Answer: It is not easy to motivate others but I think Steve Jobs'
speech is so inspiring. His act of delivering life-related stories in his
speech to motive his audiences is outstanding. In his speech, he has shared his
personal stories of his life that has inspired most of the people. His speech
has various facts related to the life of common people. His speech provides a
kind of encouragement and inspiration to the people to move ahead on the way of
success and progress.
f. Why do you think Steve Jobs used the personal narrative
storytelling technique in his speech? What influence does it have on the
audiences?
Answer: I think Steve Jobs used the personal narrative storytelling
technique in his speech to motivate his audiences. His speech has various facts
related to hardships and struggles appeared in his life. It has a very positive
influence on audiences. Through his speech, the audiences have got a chance to
know about hardships and struggles behind a successful life in real sense.
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