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 for blacks.
     Fortunately (幸運(yùn)地) 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 earn 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 with less than a third-grade education.She worked hard as a cook for
two years to save enough money to take her son-then 15-to Chicago.
     Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land (樂土) 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 an editor (編輯) of the newspaper 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 (典當(dāng)) 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.

1. Why did John's mother decide to move to Chicago? Because _____.

A. life in Chicago would be better for the blacks than for the whites
B. John's father died in his hometown when John was very young
C. there were no high schools for the blacks in their hometown
D. John needed education and he could go to school there

2. The underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph means _____.

A. if you try, you will surely succeed
B. a try is always followed by a failure
C. only by trying can you get out of failure
D. a failure is difficult to beat, even if you try

3. We can learn from this passage that John's mother _____.

A. didn't depend on others or give up easily
B. thought success only came from working hard
C. thought one could be whatever one wanted to be
D. believed one would succeed without working hard

4. What can be inferred from this passage?

A. If someone wants to be successful,he should always stand firm.
B. Chicago was the promised land for the whites in 1933.
C. John's father died in an accident during the war.
D. John's mother was caring for him.