本书是为21世纪成人高校非英语专业学生编写的基础英语教材之一。课文主要选自英美原著，酌情增删。题材主要是日常生活、文科和科普知识。选材遵循实用性、思想性、知识性、趣味性和可操作性等原则，选材力求文体多样、语言规范、文辞优美。各课的课文由日常情景会话与记叙文或应用文两部分组成，其中情景会话l2篇，记叙文等l2篇。课文注释简要介绍课文内容和有关的英美文化背景知识，或针对课文中的疑难点与惯用法，予以简要说明和翻译。主要供各类成人高等学校非英语专业教学使用，也可作高等职业技术学院和成人自学的教材。

第一课

I. What's Your Secret?II. Which Is Stronger?

Suggestion, Agreement and Disagreement 建议、同意与不同

I. Types of Adjectives and Their Uses 形容词的类型及用途

II. The Degrees of Adjectives and Adverbs 形容词和副词的比较等级

III. The Past Continuous Tense 过去进行时

第二课

I. My FamilyII. Adult Education

Talking about Family Relations 谈家庭及亲属

The Passive Voice 被动语态

第三课

I. Telephone CallsII. How to Improve Memory

I. Telephoning 打电话 II. Appointments 约会

III. Invitations and Responses 邀请与应答

I. Types of Sentences 句子类型

II. Reflexive Pronouns 反身代词

第四课

I. You Don't Look WellII. Everybody's Jogging

I. Anxiety 焦虑II. Sympathy同情

IlL Consolation 安慰IV. Suggestions 建议

Adverbial Clauses (1) 状语从句(1)

第五课

I. At the Post Office

II. How Did Postage Stamps Come into Use?

I. Wants and Desires 需要与愿望

II. Apologies and Responses 道歉与应

I. Non-Finite Verb Forms 动词的非谓语形态

II. The Infinitive 动词不定式

II1. The Negative Infinitive 不定式的否定形态

第六课

I. Radio and TelevisionII. Television and Children

I. Talking about Radio and TV 谈广播和电视

II. Getting Opinions and Ideas征求意见

I. Noun Clauses 名词从句

II. The Past Future Tense 过去将来时

第七课

I. ShoppingII. Department Stores

I. Surprise 惊奇 II. Shopping 购物

I. Adverbial Clauses (2) 状语从句 (2)

II. The Gerund 动名词

第八课

I. Taking a TaxiII. My First Days in Beijing

Talking about Public Transport 谈公共交通

Compounding (1)合成 (1)

I. Attributive Clauses (1) 定语从句 (1)

II. Appositive Clauses 同位语从句

III. The Past Perfect Tense 过去完成时

第九课

I. I Just Watch Them on TV! II. Trees

Talking about Sports You Like and Dislike 谈运动喜好

Compounding (2) 合成 (2)

Attributive Clauses (2) 定语从句 (2)

第十课

I. Seeing a DoctorII. The Grateful Crane

Talking about Sickness and Medications 谈疾病与治疗

Derivation (1) 派生 (1)

I. Participles (1) 分词 (1)

II. Nominal Possessive Pronouns 名词性物主代词

第十一课

I. Healthy FoodII. The Clever Judge

Language Difficulties in Communication 语言交际困难

Derivation (2) 派生 (2)

I. Basic Sentence Patterns (3)基本句型(3)

II. Participles (2)分词(2)

第十二课

I. An InterviewII. About the Sun

Expressing Pleasure and Surprise 表达喜悦与惊奇

Conversion 转化

The Subjunctive Mood (1)虚拟语气(1)

综合练习

补充读物

I.Marie Curie

II.The Fly Spy

III.Living a Long Life

IV.How I Wish I Weren't Shy!

V.Modem Railway Lines

VI.Two Items of News

VII. Age and Foreign Language Learning

VIII. The Changing Body

IX.Moon Exploration

X.On Learning English

XI. Are Plants Able to Think?

XII. Successful Clothing for the Business Woman

附录

Appendix I.Proverbs 谚语

Appendix II. Punctuation Marks标点符号

Appendix III. Glossary 词汇表