本教材充分吸取我国在外语数学中长期积累起来且行之有效的经验和方法，同时注意借鉴国外的教学理论和方法，根据独立学院在校学生的学习需要和现有条件，在文章选择和编写方面尽量体现知识性、趣味性和可读性的有机统一，为学生自觉、自主、创造性地学习提供有利的素材。内容包括文选、练习及答案、词语及相关文化背景的注释、译文和词汇表。
本教材作为现行阅读教程的辅助读物，培养学生学习英语的兴趣、信心和成就感，解决好学生从原有英语水平向进入大学英语正常学习的过渡问题。

UNIT ONE PEOPLE TIES
1. Run Patti Run
2. Remembering a Friend
3. The Deliverer
UNIT TWO MORAL VALUES
4. Christmas Morning
5. Catch of a Lifetime
6. American' s Moral Values
UNIT THREE FESTIVALS
7. What Is the Fringe?
8. A Scientific Inquiry into Santa Claus
9. A History of Mother's Day
UNIT FOUR TENSION AND STRESS
10. Stress
11. Tension Headache
12. Modern Stress Pushes Some People Past Boiling Point
UNIT FIVE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
13. E-mails
14. Five Steps to Improving Communication
15. Body Talk
UNIT SIX SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
16. What Does Science and Technology Do?
17. Our Earliest Ancestors
18. What Is Multimedia?
UNIT SEVEN FINANCIAL WORLD
19. Mortgage
20. Stock
21. The World's Strangest Checks
UNIT EIGHT CULTURES AND BUSINESS
22. Individualism within the Chinese and American Cultures
23. Business Lunch and Culture
24. Cultural Echoes
Keys to Comprehension Exercises
课文参考译文
Glossary