本书是根据教育部最新《大学英语课程教学要求》，北京大学、北京师范大学、北京航空航天大学、中国农业大学、美国加利福尼亚大学等国内外著名大学英语教学专家设计编写。针对入校大学生的思想实际和学习兴趣，本书的选材主题范围为：大学学习和生活、大学生成长自我意识。全书共分八个单元。各单元由Language Skill，Language in Context和Toward Productive Language三个部分组成。

Unit 1 

  Part Ⅰ Language Skill

  Part Ⅱ Language in Context 

 Text A Creative Failure in College Exam

  Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

 Text B Imagination and the Making of a Physicist

Unit 2.

  Part Ⅰ Language Skill

  Part Ⅱ Language in Context

 Text A Confessions of a Lonely TA

  Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

 Text B He Rocked, I Reeled

Unit 3

Part Ⅰ Language Skill

Part Ⅱ Language in Context

 Text A The Web Is Magic but Students' Research Papers Are Not

Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

  Text B Two Letters Responding to David Rothenberg

Unit 4

Part Ⅰ Language Skill

Part Ⅱ Language in Context

  Text A The Girl with the Rose

Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

  Text B The Princess and the Nun

Unit 5

Part Ⅰ Language Skill

Part Ⅱ Language in Context

  Text A Predictable Crises of Adulthood

Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

  Text B So This Was Adolescence

Unit 6

  Part Ⅰ Language Skill

  Part Ⅱ Language in Context

 Text A To Err Is Human

  Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

 Text B The Advantages of Stupidity

Unit 7

  Part Ⅰ Language Skill

  Part Ⅱ Language in Context

 Text A Noble Failures and Petty Successes

  Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

 Text B Cultural Literacy Hypocrisy 

Unit 8

  Part Ⅰ Language Skill

  Part Ⅱ Language in Context 

 Text A Premature Pragmatism on Campus

  Part Ⅲ Toward Productive Language

 Text B Preparation for Life

Appendix

Vocabulary