Steven Jobs was born on February 24,1955，in San Francisco，California，and was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.In 1961 the family moved to Mountain View, California.At that time people started to refer to the area as “Silicon Valley”．
As a child, Jobs preferred doing things by himself, not interested in team sports or other group activities.He enrolled in the HewlettPackard Explorer Club. There he saw his first puter at the age of twelve. He was very impressed, and knew right away that he wanted to work with puters.
At that time almost all puters were so large that one could fill a room, and so costly that individuals could not afford to buy them.Advances in electronics, however, meant that the parts of a puter were getting smaller and the power of the puter was increasing.
By 1980 the personal puter era was well underway.Apple was continually forced to improve its products to remain ahead, as more petitors entered the marketplace. Apple introduced the Apple Ⅲ， but the new model suffered technical and marketing problems.It was removed from the market.
Early in 1983 Jobs unveiled the Lisa.It did not sell well，however, because it was more expensive than personal puters sold by petitors.Apple's biggest petitor was International Business Machines (IBM). By 1983 it was estimated that Apple had lost half of its market share ( part of an industry's sales that a specific pany has) to IBM.
In 1984 Apple introduced a revolutionary new model, the Macintosh.The Macintosh did not sell well to businesses，however.It lacked features other personal puters had, such as a corresponding high quality printer. The failure of the Macintosh signaled the beginning of Jobs's downfall at Apple.
Late in 1988 the NeXT puter was introduced, aimed at the educational market.The product was very userfriendly，and had a fast processing speed, excellent graphics displays，and an outstanding sound system.Despite the warm reception，however, the NeXT machine never caught on. It was too costly, had a blackandwhite screen, and could not be linked to other puters or run mon software.
【小题1】When did Steven Jobs first get the chance to catch sight of a puter?A．In 1955. B．In 1961.C．In 1967. D．In 1980.【小题2】Which of the following statements is RIGHT?A．All the putes used to be large enough to fill a room.B．Before 1980, Apple was not successful in the field of personal puters.C．Steven Jobs was born in Silicon Valley.D．Apple and IBM peted for sales of personal puters.【小题3】According to the passage, the Apple Ⅲ .A．was popular among the young peopleB．turned out to be a failureC．caused more petitors to e into the marketD．could be linked to a printer【小题4】Which of the following leads to Jobs's downfall at Apple?A．The Apple Ⅲ. B．The MacintoshC．The NeXT. D．The Lisa.【小题5】One of the reasons why the NeXT puter didn't bee popular is that .A．few people could afford itB．it was not fast enoughC．it was not easy to useD．it lacked super sound systemC
网友回答
(答案→)C
解析：苹果公司的创始人乔布斯之死引起了无数“果粉”的关注，有关乔布斯的传记频频出现于网络与报刊，本文介绍了他和早期的几种苹果产品。
【小题1】解析 细节推断题。乔布斯出生于1955年，再根据第二段倒数第二句“There he saw his first puter at the age of twelve.”可以判断答案选C，即1955＋12＝1967。
答案 C
【小题2】解析 细节理解题。根据第五段的内容可知，苹果在销售私人电脑过程中遇到了劲敌IBM公司，失去了一半的市场份额，故D项正确。其他选项与文章内容不符。
答案 D
【小题3】解析 推理判断题。根据第四段后两句的“but the new model suffered technical and marketing problems.It was removed from the market.”可以推知，Apple Ⅲ没有取得成功，因为它遇到了技术和营销问题而退出市场。
答案 B
【小题4】解析 细节理解题。根据倒数第二段的最后一句“The failure of the Macintosh signaled the beginning of Jobs's downfall at Apple.”可知答案。Macintosh的失败预示着乔布斯在苹果的地位下降的开始。
答案 B
【小题5】解析 细节理解题。根据文章最后一段最后一句中的“It was too costly”可知，NeXT没有火起来其中一个原因就是太贵了，几乎没有人能买得起。
答案 A