Chapter 2.3 – Connecting the Dots
Maharashtra Board Textbook Solutions | Standard Ten – English
Summary of the Lesson
This lesson talks about three stories in the life of Steve Jobs which, according to him, were the three turning points in his life. He trusted his intuition and his heart, and achieved name and fame. He advises his readers to follow their heart as well.
The first story, “Connecting the Dots,” talks about his college days, wherein he dropped out of college to follow his heart and ended up designing the first Macintosh computer. According to him, whatever you do in life helps you in future somewhere down the line.
His second story is about love and loss. This story tells us how he lost what he had made. He was fired from his own company because he drove the people a little too hard, as being gentle and polite was not his nature. He took this as a lesson and began all over again with a different perspective. He also talks about the love of his life, Laurene, whom he married later.
His third story talks about death and how he escaped the jaws of death. He was diagnosed with cancer, and his doctor had advised him to settle all his things. The cancer turned out to be a rare form of pancreatic cancer which could be cured with surgery, and he had the surgery done. He had nearly knocked at the doors of Heaven and returned to Earth. He says that life is unpredictable, so live your life and use your time judiciously.
Word Meanings
| Word/Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| dropped out of | discontinued, left |
| drop in | visitor |
| dorm | dormitory |
| cent | a coin worth one hundredth of the US Dollar |
| typography | the appearance of printed matter |
| Mac | Macintosh computer |
| connect the dots | associate one idea (previous) to another (next) to find/create a new big picture |
| gut | courage and determination |
| got fired | lost the job |
| devastating | causing severe shock, distress and grief |
| began to dawn on | began to become clear to |
| renaissance | rebirth, revival |
| hits you in the head with a brick | gives a great shock suddenly |
| dogma | belief or a set of beliefs held by a group or organisation which others are expected to accept without argument |
| drown out | be louder than another sound and prevent it from being heard |
| intuition | instinctive understanding |
| anew | in a new or different way |
| Stay Hungry | always keep wanting something more, something new |
| Stay Foolish | always keep an open mind; never think you know everything |
Warming Up
1. (A) Connect the dots to get what means a lot to you.
Ans: Success
(B) With your benchmate, use the letters given above to make a word register of ‘computers’. Set a time-limit of 5 minutes and compare your list with that of other classmates.
Ans: Computer, mouse, C.P.U., motherboard, processor, monitor, computer case, laptop, education, listening to music, watching movies, news, etc. Science, business, health, and medicine — information, project work, helping to use the Internet, etc.
2. You are quite familiar with computer, especially the personal computer. Form pairs and make a list of famous computer manufacturing companies. One is given to you.
Ans:
| (a) Apple | (f) IBM |
| (b) Hitachi | (g) Hyundai |
| (c) Dell | (h) Panasonic |
| (d) HCL | (i) Lenovo |
| (e) Intel | (j) LG |
3. Complete the web by filling the various benefits of computers.
Ans:
- Connects to the Internet
- Stores vast amount of data/information
- Educates and entertains
- Increases industrial efficiency and productivity
- Facilitates instant communications
4. (A) Expand the following into their full forms.
| Short form | Full form |
|---|---|
| (a) that’s | that is |
| (b) didn’t | did not |
| (c) here’s | here is |
| (d) can’t | cannot |
| (e) I’ve | I have |
(B) Write the shortened forms of the following.
| Full form | Short form |
|---|---|
| (a) You have | You’ve |
| (b) I would | I’d |
| (c) It is | It’s |
| (d) You are | You’re |
| (e) He will | He’ll |
| (f) I had | I’d |
| (g) will not | won’t |
| (h) shall not | shan’t |
| (i) are not | aren’t |
| (j) need not | needn’t |
| (k) must not | mustn’t |
| (l) ought not | oughtn’t |
In Between the Lesson
Q1. What did Steve Jobs do for two years after he joined Reed College?
Ans: Steve Jobs stopped taking classes that did not interest him and instead took classes that looked interesting.
Q2. What hardships did Jobs face?
Ans: Jobs didn’t have a dorm room and had to walk seven miles to get a decent meal, every Sunday night.
Q3. What basic course in Reed College helped Jobs while designing the Mac?
Ans: The calligraphy class helped Steve ten years later when he and his partner were designing the first Macintosh computer.
Q4. What setback did Jobs suffer when he was thirty?
Ans: When he was thirty, Jobs got fired from Apple.
Q5. What does the second story of Jobs convey to you?
Ans: This extract teaches me never to give up in the face of adversities. It teaches me to follow my passion and persevere even if things look bad, for every dark cloud has a silver lining.
Q6. What does Jobs warn you about life and dogma?
Ans: Jobs warns us not to get trapped by life and dogma.
Q7. How does Jobs close his address to the graduate students?
Ans: Jobs closes his address to the graduate students by telling them to “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.”
English Workshop
1. (A) Rearrange the incidents in the life of Steve Jobs in chronological order.
Ans:
- Jobs dropped out of Reed College.
- Jobs learned about serif and sans serif type faces.
- Steve Jobs started Next.
- Jobs married Laurene.
- Jobs returned to Apple Inc.
- Jobs was diagnosed with cancer.
- Jobs underwent a surgery.
(B) Read the third story again. Complete the flow-chart given below.
Ans:
- Diagnosed with cancer
- Underwent surgery
- Faced death at close quarters
- Understood that time is limited
- Advises not to live someone else’s life
- Advises not to get trapped by dogma
- Tells us to listen to our inner voice
- Tells us to follow our heart and intuition
- Wished for himself and for the fresh graduates
- Stay hungry, stay foolish.
2. Read the lesson. Refer to a dictionary and match the words in column ‘A’ with their meanings in column ‘B’.
| No | ‘A’ | ‘B’ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) | diagnosis | (iii) | act of identifying the nature of a problem or illness |
| (b) | devastating | (v) | causing great destruction |
| (c) | intuition | (iv) | power of understanding situations or people’s feelings beforehand |
| (d) | calligraphy | (vi) | beautiful handwriting done with a special pen or brush |
| (e) | destiny | (i) | the power believed to control events |
| (f) | catalogue | (ii) | complete list of items especially in a special order and description |
Ans: (a)–(iii), (b)–(v), (c)–(iv), (d)–(vi), (e)–(i), (f)–(ii)
3. Go through all the three stories. Identify some qualities of Steve Jobs and complete the webchart.
Ans:
- Perseverance
- Never say die attitude
- Optimistic
- Creative
- Confidence
- Curiosity
4. Complete the following table: ‘The Three Stories in the Life of Steve Jobs’
| About | Setbacks | Reactions | Achievements and benefits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First story | Connecting the dots | Slept on floors, good meal was a luxury, difficult to get a meal | Intuition and curiosity and perseverance did wonders | Designed the first Mac computers. Confident that hard work and perseverance pay off in the end |
| Second story | Love and Loss | Got fired from Apple, the company he started | Started all over again | Started companies ‘Next’ and ‘Pixar’ |
| Third story | Death | Diagnosed with cancer | Had biopsy and surgery | Learnt that time on earth is limited, so use it to the fullest by following your own inner voice |
5. Say HOW?
(i) The calligraphy classes helped Steve Jobs after 10 years.
Ans: To design the first Macintosh computer.
(ii) You can connect dots.
Ans: By looking backwards.
(iii) Jobs reacted later on, after the shock of being fired from Apple.
Ans: He started a company called ‘Next’ and another company called ‘Pixar’.
(iv) Jobs was cured of a rare cancer.
Ans: He underwent surgery.
(v) Jobs acquired the famous words ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’.
Ans: From the final issue on the back cover of his favourite publication called “The Whole Earth Catalogue”.
6. Besides those given at the end of the talk by Steve Jobs, pick out other pieces of advice that Jobs gives in his speech.
Ans:
- Don’t be trapped by ‘dogma’.
- Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
- Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuitions.
- Love what you do. If you haven’t found it, keep looking. Don’t settle.
- You have to trust that the dots will connect in your future.
- You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.
7. (A) Use the following idioms/phrases in sentences of your own.
drop it
Ans: This conversation is not going in the right direction, let’s drop it.
drop out
Ans: Lack of time forced me to drop out of the project.
stumble on
Ans: I stumbled on the clue by sheer luck.
look backwards
Ans: Looking backwards at my childhood days makes me feel nostalgic.
look forward
Ans: I am looking forward to joining the new office.
let (someone) down
Ans: I make sure not to let my parents down under any circumstances.
sign off
Ans: He always signs off his lectures with motivational quotes.
begin anew
Ans: I have decided to forget my past and begin anew.
(B) Fill in the gaps choosing the appropriate idioms.
(drown out, hits in the head with a brick, get one’s affairs in order, connect the dots, begin to dawn, stay hungry)
- The wealthy landlord made a will to get his affairs in order before he could die.
- Those who aspire for success should always stay hungry to learn more.
- If you connect the dots, you will realise that crime ultimately leads to poverty.
- The siren of the ambulance drowned out all other traffic noise.
- When the father learned about his son’s misdeeds, it hit him on the head with a brick.
- On reading exactly the same essays in both answer sheets, it began to dawn on the examiner that the students had cheated during exams.
8. (A) Name the Tense of the Verbs underlined to include Time (Past / Present / Future) and Aspect (Simple / Continuous / Perfect / Perfect Continuous)
| Sentence | Tense |
|---|---|
| I slept on the floor. | Simple Past Tense |
| You haven’t found it. | Present Perfect Tense |
| We were designing the first Macintosh computer. | Past Continuous Tense |
| It had made all the difference. | Past Perfect Tense |
| I am fine, now. | Simple Present Tense |
| I have been facing death. | Present Perfect Continuous Tense |
| I shall be telling you three stories. | Future Continuous Tense |
(B) Change the Tense as instructed.
| Sentence | Instruction | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| I got fired. | Future Perfect | I shall have got fired. |
| Life hits you in the head. | Present Perfect Continuous | Life has been hitting you on the head. |
| The dots will somehow connect. | Past Perfect | The dots had somehow connected. |
| I started a company. | Present Continuous | I am starting a company. |
| My doctor advised me. | Past Perfect Continuous | My doctor had been advising me. |
9. Read the News item and write an application for a suitable job in the same company. Attach a separate CV/Resume.
May 19, 2016 — Apple Opens Development Office in Hyderabad. The new office in Hyderabad will focus on development of maps, Apple products, like iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc. This will create up to 4000 jobs.
(A) Application for the post of H.R. Manager
(B) Imagine you are already working as an Engineer in Apple Development Office, Hyderabad. Write an application for 2 weeks leave to the HR Manager as you have to undergo an urgent surgery.
10. Prepare a speech on the title “The Will to Win” to be delivered before the class during a competition.
11. Project: Collect more information about Steve Jobs with the help of the Internet. Complete it with images into a file.
Ans: Students should do this on their own.
12. Do you remember doing some activities in your childhood that you didn’t like? Form pairs and make a list of all those activities. Do you think any one of these activities has helped you in solving your problems? Share your experience with the class.
Ans: Once, while driving home from school, the chain of my bicycle got dislodged and I almost fell off. There was no bicycle repair shop nearby and no passers-by were able to help me. Since I had experience helping my dad repair his bicycle, somehow I managed to get the chain fixed and wobbled back home. My hands were black and dirty with grease and oil, but at least I didn’t have to walk back home, pushing my bicycle along.