本書共有22篇文章，課文內容涉及社會、文化、地理、科技、教育等方方面面，既可以幫助讀者提高對英語原版文章的閱讀能力，又可以擴大視野，了解國外風情。
本書課文編排由淺入深，詞彙覆蓋面廣，適合學習者安排學習。本書每課後設有與本課主題相關的思考題，可以幫助讀者培養閱讀的興趣、激發思維和想像力。課後附有詞彙、語法、完型填空、翻譯等多種形式的練習，幫助學生鞏固掌握每課內容的重點和難點。教材*後附帶的詞彙表和參考答案可以幫助學習者檢查自己的學習情況。
本書課文體裁多樣，語言地道。可以幫助讀者充分了解正宗的外國各類體裁文章的語言，為出國學習和科研做好準備。

Chapter 1 Geography and Culture
Unit 1 Maldives
Unit 2 Shaking All Over
Unit 3 Nature's Champion
Supplementary Reading
Chapter 2 Science and Technology
Unit 4 To Build a Baby
Unit 5 The Rise of the Green Building
Unit 6 Why We Strive for Status
Unit 7 Wearing Wires
Supplementary Reading
Chapter 3 People and Society
Unit 8 Organized Crime
Unit 9 College Pressures
Unit 10 Albert Einstein
Unit 11 The Foundation of Personality
Supplementary Reading
Chapter 4 Speeches
Unit 12 Martin Luther King's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
Unit 13 Shall We Choose Death
Unit 14 To Unite with One Heart and One Mind
Supplementary Reading
Chapter 5 Literary Works
Unit 15 David Copperfield
Unit 16 A Dark Brown Dog
Unit 17 On Work
Supplementary Reading
Keys to the Exercises
Vocabulary