本教材在內容的選擇上新穎獨特，既保留了傳統閱讀教材的廣泛性，又融入了英語文學的經典性；既有英語文學中的經典作品，又有反映時代信息的時文選粹；既有英語名家名篇，又有中國人的**英文作品；既有正文學習又有補充閱讀；既有語言方面的練習，又有閱讀技能的講解，經典性、廣泛性、趣味性和實用性相輔相成、有機地結合在一起。因此，本教材既能提高學生的英語語言水平，又能提高他們的文學文化修養。同時也能提高他們的英語學習興趣和民族自豪感。

Section One Fine Works on Current Issues
Unit 1 Modern Technology and Life
Lesson One The Rise of Baidu
David Barboza
Reading Skill One: Guessing the Meaning of Unknown
Words from Context Clues (Part One)
Lesson Two Striking a Balance between Privacy and Convenience
Douglas C. Curling
Lesson Three To Clone or Not to Clone, Is Than the Question?
Supplementary Reading One
Strategic Cost Management
Unit 2 China in the Eyes of Westerners
Lesson Four Shanghai's Boom: A Building Frenzy
Howard W. French
Reading Skill Two: Guessing the Meaning of Unknown
Words from Context Clues (Part Two)
Lesson Five China Competes with West in Aid to Its Neighbors
Jane Perlez
Supplementary Reading Two
Chinese New Year--A Promise of Peace and Prosperity
William N. Brown
Unit 3 Glimpse of the West
Lesson Six Political Parties in the United States
Reading Skill Three : Guessing the Meaning of Unfamiliar
Vocabulary from Word-formation
Clues (compounding and conversion)
Lesson Seven Christmas in New Zealand
Supplementary Reading Three
Impressions of America
Oscar Wilde
Unit 4 Wisdom in Life
Lesson Eight The Shadows
Bruce Hutchison
Reading Skill Four : Guessing the Meaning of Unfamiliar
Vocabulary from Word-formation
Clues (stems, prefixes, and suffixes):
Part One
Lesson Nine Two Truths to Live By
Alexander M. Schindler
Supplementary Reading Four
A Simple Truth about Happiness
Dennis Prager
Section Two English and Chinese Classics
Unit 5 English Essays
Lesson Ten Text 1 Of Beauty
Francis Bacon
Text 2 Of Studies
Francis Bacon
Reading Skill Five: Guessing the Meaning of Unfamiliar
Vocabulary from Word-formation Clues
(stems, prefixes, and suffixes): Part Two
Lesson Eleven The Acorn-Gatherer
Richard Jefferics
Supplementary Reading Five
French and English
G. K. Chesterton
Unit 6 English Poems
Lesson Twelve Poem 1 Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
Poem 2 Song to Celia
Ben Johnson
Poem 3 A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns
Reading Skill Six: Poem Appreciation
Supplementary Reading Six
Poem 1 Counsel to Girls
Robert Herrick
Poem 2 The Tyger
William Bloke
Poem 3 Daffodils
William Wordsworth
Unit 7 English Fictions
Lesson Thirteen The Signalman
Charles Dickens
Reading Skill Seven: Sentence Study (Part 1): Comprehension
of a Sentence by Reading It in
Thought Groups
Lesson Fourteen The Horse Dealer's Daughter
D. H. Lawrence
Lesson Fifteen Jane Eyre (Chapter Eight, Volume Two)
Charlotte Bronte
Supplementary Reading Seven
Kew Gardens (Chapter 57)
Virginia Woolf
Unit 8 Fine Works by Chinese
Lesson Sixteen The Religion of Good Citizenship
Gu Hongming
Reading Skill Eight: Sentence Study (Part 2): Comprehension
of a Sentence by Structural Analysis
Lesson Seventeen Farewell, Old Curiosity Shop
Yiao Qian
Appendix Keys for Reference