本书是一本为高等学校成人教育而编写的英语教材，也可作为网络教育、夜大、函大、高等专科院校和高等职业院校英语教材使用，还可作为自学教材供相应水平的英语爱好者学习使用。
本教材旨在指导学生深入学习课文的基础上，从读、写、译、听、说等方面进行语言操练，使学生具备较扎实的英语语言基础知识、较强的阅读能力和翻译能力以及一定的听和说的能力。
本教材共有十六个单元。每个单元都设计有一个话题及两篇阅读文章。它们既相互关联，又各有侧重。围绕这些与学生生活和学习息息相关的话题，教师可以安排学生讨论，充分发挥学生的学习主动性。每个单元后还配有相关的语法知识和情景对话，以帮助学生达到能够比较熟练地应用英语进行交流的目的。
每个单元均配有与课文内容相关的图片，增加了其趣味性。各个单元后还配有相应的配套练习，包括词汇练习、语法练习和翻译练习等，旨在帮助学生巩固课文中所学过的单词和短语、句法、句型，加深学生对所学语法项目的理解和对词汇的记忆，训练学生的翻译能力，提高学生综合应用英语的能力。这些练习能起到巩固学习内容、夯实语言基础知识的作用。
Unit One
Text A Why I Want a Wife
Text B Why I Want a Husband
Unit Two
Text A The Family : Past, Present, and Future
Text B Families
Unit Three
Text A How to Be a Successful Language Learner?
Text B Is Learning English Easy or Not?
Unit Four
Text A A Plate of Peas
Text B A Coke and a Smile
Unit Five
Text A Not a Chance to Regret
Text B One Hour of Time
Unit Six
Text A You Never Really Lose Your Value
Text B If I Were a Boy Again
Unit Seven
Text A The Man Who Create Mickey Mouse
Text B Disneyland
Unit Eight
Text A What We Eat and Drink
Text B Fallacies about Food
Unit Nine
Text A Poll Reveals TV News too Negative
Text B Television -- a Blessing or a Curse?
Unit Ten
Text A Net Has Become a British Way of Life
Text B Hacking
Unit Eleven
Text A Goal of American Education
Text B The British School System
Unit Twelve
Text A The Delights of Books
Text B Time Spent in a Bookshop
Unit Thirteen
Text A Mystery Monsters of Loch Ness
Text B Eskimos
Unit Fourteen
Text A How New York Became America's Largest City
Text B Cities in the United States
Unit Fifteen
Text A American Men don't Cry
Text B American Stores
Unit Sixteen
Text A Current Attitudes towards Physical Fitness
Text B Dieting Your Way to Health
Vocabulary
参考文献
