JohnHenrywasayoungmanandhewasoneofthebeststeel-driversinthecountry．Hecouldworkforhourswithoutmissingabeat．Peoplesaidheworkedsofastthathis 36 movedlikelightening．
Oneday，asalesmancametotheworkareawithanew 37 machinebypoweredsteam．Hesaiditcoulddrillholes 38 thantwelvemenworkingtogether．Therailroadcompany 39 tobuythemachineifitworkedaswallasthesalesmansaid．
Thesupervisor(监工头)said，“Ihavethebeststeel-driverinthe 40 ．Hecanbeat morethantwentymenworkingtogether．”Thesalesman 41 thestatements．Hesaidthecompanycouldhavethemachinewithoutcost 42 hewasfaster．ThesupervisortoldJohnaboutitandsaid“Howabouta 43 ?”JohnHenrylookedatthemachineandsaw 44 ofthefuture．Hesawmachinestaking 45 ofAmerica'sbestlaborers．Hesawhimselfandhisfriends 46 andstandingbyaroadaskingforfood．Hesawmenlosingtheirfamiliesandtheir 47 ashumanbeings．JohnHenrytoldthesupervisorhewouldneverletthemachinetakehisjob．Hisfriendsallcheered．
Thecompetitionbegan．JohnHenry 48 hishammerandstartedworking．Atfirst，thesteam-powereddrillworkedtwotimesfasterthanhedid． 49 hestartedworkingwithahammerineachhand．Heworkedfasterandfaster．Inthemountain，thedustwasso 50 thatmostmenwouldhavehadtrouble 51 ．Afterawhilethemachinewaspulledfromthetunnel．Ithadbrokendown．ButJohnHenry 52 workingfasterandfaster．Atlasthebecameweak，andhisheart 53 ．JohnHenryfelltotheground．“Ibeatthem，”Thenhetookhis 54 breath．
Soon，thesteamdrillandothermachinesreplacedthesteel-drivers．Many 55 lefttheirfamilieslookingforwork．Theytooktheonlyjobstheycouldfind．Astheyworked，somesangaboutJohnHenry．