Surfing

O'NEILL, the sportswear company, recently celebrated its sixtieth birthday. Jack O' Neill is the man who started the company.

O'Neill grew up in Oregon and southern California, where he began body surfing in the late 1930s. O'Neill later moved to San Francisco in 1949 and earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts at San Francisco State University. As a young man, Jack O' Neill worked for a big enterprise, but he always went to the beach in his spare time. He loved surfing, but the Californian ocean was cold. Jack wanted to find a way to stay warm in the water, and he started to make protective clothing for cold water or wetsuits.

At first, he used polyvinyl chloride PVC ; however, he later discovered a better material: neoprene. Neoprene was used on the underside of the carpet of the DC 3 plane that O'Neill was traveling on. In 1952, he stopped working for the company and opened the first surf shop where he sold surfboards and wetsuits. The shop was located on Ocean Beach, San Francisco.

Jack took his wetsuits to all the major boat shows in the fifties. His three young children went with him and sat in a bath of ice, wearing wetsuits. When people asked : "What's a wetsuit?", Jack pointed to his children.

O'Neill is a family-run company. There are now seven children, and they all work for the company. Jack was the chairman and he did a lot of charity work. He had the appearance of a pirate since he lost his eye in a surfing accident. He passed away on June 2nd, 2017 at the age of 94.

Read the article. What is the title? Choose the correct answer.(main idea question)
1. Jack O'Neill worked for a successful company.
2. California has a warm climate.
3. O'Neill's popular wetsuit
Where did he grow up?
1. In San Francisco
2. In San Diego
3. In Oregon
Where did he go to the beach?
1. In Oregon
2. In California
3. In Washington
Why did he start to make wetsuits?
1. Because wetsuits were unavailable in California
2. Because of the cold water
3. Because many surfers requested it
Where did he discover a better material for wetsuits?
1. On a boat
2. On an airplane
3. In a car
Where did he open his first shop?
1. In Santa Cruz California
2. In San Diego California
3. In San Francisco California
What does the word " spare" mean in paragraph 2
1. busy
2. rare
3. free
Why did he take his children to boat shows?
1. Because he needed help fixing the shop to sell the product.
2. Because he needed someone to show what wetsuits were.
3. Because he needed some company in the shows.
Jack looked like a pirate
1. True
2. False
What does the phrase "passed away" mean in paragraph 5?
1. wasted time
2. died
3. retired