John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching high school age, but his hometown offered no high school at all.
Fortunately he had a strong-willed, caring mother. John remembers that his mother told him many times, “Son, you can be anything you really want to be if you just believe.” She told him not to be dependent on others, including his mother. “ You have to get success,” said she. “All the people who work hard don’t succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard.”
These words came from a woman less than a third grade education. She also knew that belief and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son—then 15—to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the Promised Land that black southerners were looking for. John’s mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power of words—as editor(编辑) of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for the blacks.
While others discouraged him, John’s mother offered him more words to live by: “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” She also let him pawn(典当)her furniture to get the $500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It is natural the difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always keeps his mother’s words in mind. “Son, failure is not in your vocabulary.”
Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America—worth $ 150 million.
33. Why did John’s mother decide to move to Chicago? Because _________.
A. John’s father died in his hometown when John was very young
B. life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown, while life in Chicago would be better for them blacks
C. blacks were not allowed to go to school
D. John needed more education and he could go to school there
34. The underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph means“_________.”
A. If you try, you will surely succeed in the end
B. a failure is difficult to beat, even if you try
C. a try is always followed by a failure
D. Nothing but a try can help you out of failure
35. What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. How John H Johnson became famous.
B. The importance of a good education.
C. The mental support John’s mother gave him.
D. The key to success for blacks.