本书所选的篇章,均出自英美散文大家和哲学家之手。这些选篇所涉及到的内容有教育、英美历史、西方社会问题、艺术欣赏和环保,等等。大部分文章都属于论述文,其论证方式和行文堪为典范,可供学生模仿。每篇课文后面均配有生词表、课文注释、配套练习等。

Unit One Knowledge and Wisdom
Unit Two Habit
Unit Three The Scientist as Rebel
Unit Four Predictable Crises of Adulthood
Unit Five The Evolution of Good and Bad
Unit Six Faces of the Enemy
Unit Seven Gibbon
Unit Eight Philistines and Philistinism
Unit Nine The American Scholar
Unit Ten A Professional Malaise
Unit Eleven Hebraism and Hellenism
Unit Twelve The Gift of Tongues
Supplementary Reading