本书是普通高等教育十一五**级规划教材,是*****使用的大学外语类教材。它的目的在于提高英语阅读速度,以适应目前信息量日益膨胀的现状。全书共分八个单元,其中每个单元由A-1、A-2和B-1、B-2四篇短文组成。每个单元的A-1和B-1供课堂使用,A-2和B-2供课外阅读。本书主要供修读要求较高的学生使用。

Unit 1
Text A-1 Why I Love the City
Text A-2 People on the Move
Text B-1 Caution: Bumpy Road Ahead
Text B-2 Memory Lane Isn't What It Used to Be
Unit 2
Text A-1 Frederick Douglass
Text A-2 Best of Friends, Worlds Apart
Text B-1 Coming to an Awareness of Language
Text B-2 She Wanted to Teach
Unit 3
Text A-1 Brave New World of Biometrics
Text A-2 Fingerprints Instead of Credit Cards
Text B-1 Black Box Tells Its Secrets
Text B-2 The Deli
Unit 4
Text A-1 Everything Equals E=mc2
Text A-2 Black Holes
Text B-1 The Cosmos
Text B-2 Stars
Unit 5
Text A-1 The Cost-Benefit Principle
Text A-2 The Economics of Product Design
Text B-1 Lawyers and Professors and Cars and Clothing
Text B-2 Why Do "Almost New" Used Cars Sell for So Much Less Than Brand-new Ones?
Unit 6
Text A-1 The First Read
Text A-2 The Gift
Text B-1 Peanuts Creator Schulz Dies on Eve of Last Strip
Text B-2 Linda's New Friend
Unit 7
Text A-1 Starting Your Own Business
Text A-2 A Team Leader
Text B-1 Working for Fun and Profit
Text B-2 The Carpet Fitter
Unit 8
Text A-1 A Tree Project Helps the Genes of Champions Live On
Text A-2 Cloning
Text B-1 Engineers Ask Nature for Design Advice
Text B-2 Flowers in the Desert?
Appendix
Key to Comprehension Exercises