一个成熟的英语学习者能够用英语进行广泛的阅读并从中收获知识和快乐。让我们为知识和快乐而阅读，而不仅仅是为学好英语而阅读。“人类文明与文化读本”(READ INTO HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE)是针对高校英语专业学生和同等程度的英语学习者开发的一套阅读文库，可以用作泛读课教材，也可以用作课外阅读材料。与一般泛读教材不同的是，本套读本着眼于让读者通过英语的视角来了解上下数千年人类所创造的文明、文化以及所遭遇的挑战和危机。

Part 1 Human Evolution

Unit 1 From Handy Human to Modern Human

Text A From Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens

Text B  Dawkins' River of DNA

Unit 2 The Body and the Mind

Text A The Interdependence of Body and Mind

Text B  Towards the Millennium of the Mind

Unit 3 The Babel and Languages

Text A  From Adam to the Confusion of Tongues

Text B The World's Endangered Languages

Text C Language and the Evolution of the Modern Mind

Part 2 World Civilizations

Unit 4 Egypt and Greece

Text A Egypt: How a Great Civilization Was Lost and Found

Text B Greece: Its Geographical Features, Economy and Recent History

Text C The Pyramids of Egypt

Unit 5 India and China

Text A  India: Its People and Its Past

Text B  Tang Civilization and Chinese Centuries

Unit 6 Africa and America

Text A Africa: Present and Past

Text B  Native Americans

Part 3 Knowledge as Power

Unit 7 Printing-Accumulation of Knowledge

Text A  A Short History of Printing in Europe

Text B The First Printer in England

Text C A Sketch of Printing

Unit 8 The Emancipation of Human from Physical Labour

Text A The Industrial Revolution 1780--1840 (1)

Text B The Industrial Revolution 1780--1840 (2)

Text C Industrial Revolution

Unit 9 The Emancipation of Human from Mental Labour

Text A  A New Philosophy of Work for the Information Age

Text B  The World Wide Web, Society and the Individual

Text C  How Can America Spark Private Innovation

Part 4 Scientists in Profile

Unit 10 Different Childhoods, Similar Achievements

Text A Charles Darwin and the Evolution Theory

Text B  Richard Feynman's Fascination with Physics

Unit 11 Groping for an Understanding of the Universe

Text A The Life and Work of Albert Einstein (1879--1955)

Text B  My Position: How One Can Understand the Universe

Unit 12 Women in a Man's World

Text A  Episodes from the Early Life of Marie Curie

Text B  The Dark Lady of DNA

Text C The Dorothy Hodgkin I Got to Know

Part 5 Human's Insatiable Desire

Unit 13 Exploration of Outer Space

Text A  The Possibility of Life on Europa

Text B What Would Life on the Moon Be Like?

Unit 14 Space Mission

Text A  Six Months on Mir

Text B  Transport and Travel in Space in the 21st Century

Unit 15 Seeking the Impossible

Text A1 A Home that Does Everything

Text A2 Looking at the Big Picture

Text B  Computer Fiction: Byte Couture

Part 6 Issues and Challenges

Unit 16 Crises of Human's Own Making

Text A The Doomsday Reckoning

Text B  The West's Poisonous Legacy

Unit 17 Urban or Rural?

Text A Where Is the Good Life?

Text B  Notes from a Big Country

Unit 18 AIDS and Other Social Issues

Text A Learning to Let Mother Go

Text B  The Surprising Successes of Multicultural Britain

Key to Questions

Glossary