本书为“大学英语美文赏析”系列四级丛书之一。精心选取的40篇国外最新美文，从心灵、情感、教育、科普、社会、文体、励志和哲理八个方面为读者提供接触经典英文的机会。每篇文章包括斟词酌字、佳句有约、译笔生花、情趣链接四个部分，它们不仅帮助读者理解文章，掌握重要单词和句型，更为读者列出丰富的文化语言链接内容。

本书所有的文章均来自2005年之后的英语报纸杂志，选材新颖，结构安排合理，内容紧跟时代潮流，语言地道真实，既能提供英语美文的赏析，也能拓展视野，更好地了解英语世界和文化。

本书的目标读者广泛，不论是教师还是研究生、本科生抑或专科生，只要对优美的英文篇章感兴趣的读者都将从中获益匪浅。

心灵

 On Peace of Mind

By Author Unknown

 Two Extremes in Life

By Author Unknown

 Be Still

By Leo Babauta

 Self-esteem Booster: Stand up for Peace

By Anne Naylor

情感

 Are Men Romantic？

By Nancy Kalish

 They Tried it Twice

By Maureen Mackey and Bridget Nelson Monroe

 Quirks

By Andy Simmons

 Love the One You're with

By Alexandra Carlton

 Blessings Take on Many Guises

By Jack O'Brien

 A Goodbye Kiss

By Thomas Charles Clary

教育

 Five Things Every Parent Should Do for Their Young Children

By Paul Sloane

 Obama's Address to America's Schoolchildren(Excerpt)

By Barack Obama

 Surviving College Life

By Angela G.

 Oxford Slips in International University Ranking as Asian Rivals" Snap at Heels" ~

By Polly Curtis

 Do Master's Degrees Really Pay Off？

By Minauti Dave

科普

 The Science of Fairy Tales (Excerpt)

By Chris Gorski

 Number of Earth's Species Known to Scientists Rises to 1.9 Million

By Toni O'Loughlin

 Apple Releases Snow Leopard, Next Version of Mac Operating System

By Kevin Anderson

 Latest Google News Service Promises Publishers Money and Readers

By Katie Alien

 NASA's Mission This Week: to Smash into the Moon

By Bobbie Johnson

社会

 Tough Goodbye to Flimsy Bin Bags？

By Li Siqi

 French Fries and Fat Kids -- Asia's Next Epidemic

By Roger Tatoud

 The Grab for Africa's Farmland

By Javier Bias

 Debate: Can We Turn Off the Air Conditioning This Summer？

By Zhang Haidi

 10 First Date Mistakes

By Rich Santos

 Barack Obama's Inaugural Address (Excerpt)

By Barack Obama

文体

 You Can Learn to Love Exercise

By Michael O'Shea

 Backstreet Boys Still Love to Perform

By Amy O'Brian

 Simple Change to Get Fit and Green at the Same Time (Excerpt)

By Leo Babauta

 Wenger Says No Spend Despite Arsenal's Record

 Turnover

By David Conn

励志

 Renew Your Life

By Elisha Goldstein

 Growing Roots

By Philip Gulley

 Qian Xuesen

By Kerry Brown

 Why I'm Trying to Become a Quitter

By David Pierce

 Be Lucky -- It's an Easy Skill to Learn

By Richard Wiseman

哲理

 How Arguments and Fights Keep Relationships Happy

By Laurie Pawlik Kienlen

 Treat People with Kindness

By David Burns

 Tips for Better Family Communication

By Stephanie Tallman Smith

 Why You Should Learn to Forgive

By Geri Langlojs

 How Many Points Would You Score？

By Catherine Pulsifer