本书共分上中下三册,共精选短文96篇,内容涉及中西文化、语言、教育、生活、媒介、历史、妇女问题、科技、人性、哲学、文学等。每册按主题分为16个单元,每个单元配有与学习内容相关的阅读理解、词义辨析、句子释义以及修辞等练习和思考题。

Unit One
Text A What Life Means to Me (I)
Text B Christmas
Unit Two
Text A What Life Means to Me (II)
Text B Regret
Unit Three
Text A Why I Write
Text B Still
Unit Four
Text A Playhouse Memoranda
Text B A Gift Of Dreams
Unit Five
Text A Two Casts of Mind
Text B French and English
Unit Six
Text A The Black and White Truth about Basketball
Text B On Being Fenale,Black,and Free
Unit Seven
Text A Araby
Text B Of Love
Unit Eight
Text A How Should One Read a Book
Text B On Reading
Unit Nine
Text A Impressions of America
Text B English Writers on America
Unit Ten
Text A On Going a Journey
Text B Here Is New York
Unit Eleven
Text A Long Walk to Forever
Text B My Reflections on Gandhi
Unit Twelve
Text A Grant and Lee
Text B A Visit to Walt Whitman
Unit Thirteen
Text A A modest Proposal
Text B A Letter fron Harlem
Unit Fourteen
Text A So Long;So Long!
Text B Mr. Bickerstaff Visits a Friend
Unit Fifteen
Text A If I Were A Freshman Again
Text B What's Your Emotional IQ
Unit Sixteen
Text A The Villain in the A tmosphere
Text B Clones: WillThere Be“Carbon Copy”People?
Reference Key to the Execises