Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955. He grew up in Seattle, Washington. He was a very clever boy. His favorite subjects at school were science and math. When people asked him what he wanted to be in the future, he always said, “A scientist.”    
    When he was 13 years old, Bill started to play with computers. At that time, computers were very large machines. Once he was interested in a very old computer. He and some of his friends spent lots of time doing unusual things with it. In the end, they worked out a software program with the old machine. Bill sold it for 4,200 dollars when he was only 17.
    In 1973, Bill went to Harvard University. At Harvard, he developed the BASIC language for the first microcomputer (微型计算机). In his third year, he left Harvard to work for a company called Microsoft. Bill began this company in 1975 with his friend Paul Allen. They thought that the computer would be a very important tool in every office and at every home, so they began developing software for personal computers. They improved the software to make it easier for people to use computers.
    Today Microsoft is one of the most successful businesses in the world.