呈现于读者面前的这套《美国语文读本》，亦名《麦加菲读本》，其编者威廉·H·麦加菲曾先后任美国迈阿密大学语言学教授和俄亥俄大学校长。

《美国语文读本》从19世纪中期至20世纪中叶，一直被广泛用作美国学校的语文教材，据称有10000多所美国学校拿它当作教材。美国著名汽车制造商亨利·福特称赞这套书是他儿童时代最有兴趣的读物，后来他自费大量印刷这套书，分发给很多学校。到了21世纪，西方一些私立学校(Private School)和家庭学校(Homeschool(仍用它作为教材，足见这套书的价值与影响力。

这套读本的英文原版共分七级，包括启蒙读本和第1-6级。本书为《美国语文读本》第6册。书中均是比较正式的课文，每一课包括词汇和课文，对一些生词有英文解释，让学生学会通过简单英文理解生词，养成用英语理解和思维的习惯。课文前还增加了作者简介与相关背景知识，内容丰富而有一定深度。从所选课文的英文难易程度来看，该册可供高中及以上程度学习者阅读。从文体方面来看，除了常见的记叙、散文体以外，本书对诗歌、戏剧、论说文等文体也很重视，书中选取了不少名家的名作名篇。这对国内孩子们真正感受英语这一西方语言的魄力是大有帮助的。

This series of schoolbooks teaching reading and moral precepts, originally prepared by William Holmes who was a professor at Miami University McGuffey, had a profound influence on public education in the United States. The eclectic readers, meaning that the selections were chosen from a number of sources, were considered remarkably literary works and probably exerted a greater influence upon literary tastes in the United States more than any other book, excluding the Bible.

It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to that mark. McGuffey's Readers are still in use today in some school systems, and by parents for home schooling purposes.

In the sixth and final reader of 1885, there were 186 selections, 111 great authors were quoted such as Shakespeare, Longfellow, Dickens and Addison. The theme of the selections included several forms of composition, description, narration, argumentation and exposition. In this book there were also seventeen selections from the Bible.

LESSON 1 ANECDOTE OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE

LESSON 2 THE NEEDLE

LESSON 3 DAWN

LESSON 4 DESCRIPTION OF A STORM

LESSON 5 AFTER THE THUNDERSTORM

LESSON 6 HOUSE CLEANING

LESSON 7 SCHEMES OF LIFE OFTEN ILLUSORY

LESSON 8 THE BRAVE OLD OAK

LESSON 9 THE ARTIST SURPRISED

LESSON 10 PICTURES OF MEMORY

LESSON 11 THE MORNING ORATORIO

LESSON 12 SHORT SELECTIONS IN POETRY

LESSON 13 DEATH OF LITTLE NELL

LESSON 14 VANITY OF LIFE

LESSON 15 A POLITICAL PAUSE

LESSON 16 MY EXPERIENCE IN ELOCUTION

LESSON 17 ELEGY IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

LESSON 18 TACT AND TALENT

LESSON 19 SPEECH BEFORE THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION

LESSON 20 THE AMERICAN FLAG

LESSON 21 IRONICAL EULOGY ON DEBT

LESSON 22 THE THREE WARNINGS

LESSON 23 THE MEMORY OF OUR FATHERS

LESSON 24 SHORT SELECTIONS IN PROSE

LESSON 25 THE JOLLY OLD PEDAGOGUE

LESSON 26 THE TEACHER AND SICK SCHOLAR

LESSON 27 THE SNOW SHOWER

LESSON 28 CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

LESSON 29 NAPOLEON AT REST

LESSON 30 WAR

LESSON 31 SPEECH OF WALPOLE IN REPROOF OF MR. PITT

LESSON 32 PITT’S REPLY TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE

LESSON 33 CHARACTER OF MR. PITT

LESSON 34 THE SOLDIER’S REST

LESSON 35 HENRY V. TO HIS TROOPS

LESSON 36 SPEECH OF PAUL ON MARS HILL

LESSON 37 GOD IS EVERYWHERE

LESSON 38 LAFAYETTE AND ROBERT RAIKES

LESSON 39 FALL OF CARDINAL WOLSEY

LESSON 40 THE PHILOSOPHER

LESSON 41 MARMION AND DOUGLAS

LESSON 42 THE PRESENT

LESSON 43 THE BAPTISM

LESSON 44 SPARROWS

LESSON 45 OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH

LESSON 46 GOD’S GOODNESS TO SUCH AS FEAR HIM

LESSON 47 CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS

LESSON 48 “HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP”

LESSON 49 DESCRIPTION OF A SIEGE

LESSON 50 MARCO BOZZARIS

LESSON 51 SONG OF THE GREEK BARD

LESSON 52 NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

LESSON 53 LOCHIEL’S WARNING

LESSON 54 ON HAPPINESS OF TEMPER

LESSON 55 THE FORTUNE TELLER

LESSON 56 RIENZI’S ADDRESS TO THE ROMANS

LESSON 57 CHARACTER OF THE PURITAN FATHERS OFNEW ENGLAND

LESSON 58 LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS

LESSON 59 NECESSITY OF EDUCATION

LESSON 60 RIDING ON A SNOWPLOW

LESSON 61 THE QUARREL OF BRUTUS AND CASSIUS

LESSON 62 THE QUACK

LESSON 63 RIP VAN WINKLE

LESSON 64 BILL AND JOE

LESSON 65 SORROW FOR THE DEAD

LESSON 66 THE EAGLE

LESSON 67 POLITICAL TOLERATION

LESSON 68 WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE?

LESSON 69 THE BRAVE AT HOME

LESSON 70 SOUTH CAROLINA

LESSON 71 MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTH CAROLINA

LESSON 72 THE CHURCH SCENE FROM EVANGELINE

LESSON 73 SONG OF THE SHIRT

LESSON 74 DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND

LESSON 75 THANATOPSIS

LESSON 76 INDIAN JUGGLERS

LESSON 77 ANTONY OVER CAESAR’S DEAD BODY

LESSON 78 THE ENGLISH CHARACTER

LESSON 79 THE SONG OF THE POTTER

LESSON 80 A HOT DAY IN NEW YORK

LESSON 81 DISCONTENT.—AN ALLEGORY

LESSON 82 JUPITER AND TEN

LESSON 83 SCENE FROM “THE POOR GENTLEMAN”

LESSON 84 MY MOTHER’S PICTURE

LESSON 85 DEATH OF SAMSON

LESSON 86 AN EVENING ADVENTURE

LESSON 87 THE BAREFOOT BOY

LESSON 88 THE GLOVE AND THE LIONS

LESSON 89 THE FOLLY OF INTOXICATION

LESSON 90 STARVED ROCK

LESSON 91 PRINCE HENRY AND FALSTAFF

LESSON 92 STUDIES

LESSON 93 SURRENDER OF GRANADA

LESSON 94 HAMLET’S SOLILOQUY

LESSON 95 GINEVRA

LESSON 96 INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES

LESSON 97 ENOCH ARDEN AT THE WINDOW

LESSON 98 LOCHINVAR

LESSON 99 SPEECH ON THE TRIAL OF A MURDERER

LESSON 100 THE CLOSING YEAR

LESSON 101 A NEW CITY IN COLORADO

LESSON 102 IMPORTANCE OF THE UNION

LESSON 103 THE INFLUENCES OF THE SUN

LESSON 104 COLLOQUIAL POWERS OF FRANKLIN

LESSON 105 THE DREAM OF CLARENCE

LESSON 106 HOMEWARD BOUND

LESSON 107 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS

LESSON 108 DESTRUCTION OF THE CARNATIC

LESSON 109 THE RAVEN

LESSON 110 A VIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM

LESSON 111 THE BRIDGE

LESSON 112 OBJECTS AND LIMITS OF SCIENCE

LESSON 113 THE DOWNFALL OF POLAND

LESSON 114 LABOR

LESSON 115 THE LAST DAYS OF HERCULANEUM

LESSON 116 HOW MEN REASON

LESSON 117 THUNDERSTORM ON THE ALPS

LESSON 118 ORIGIN OF PROPERTY

LESSON 119 BATTLE OF WATERLOO

LESSON 120 “WITH BRAINS, SIR”

LESSON 121 THE NEW ENGLAND PASTOR

LESSON 122 DEATH OF ABSALOM

LESSON 123 ABRAHAM DAVENPORT

LESSON 124 THE FALLS OF THE YOSEMITE

LESSON 125 A PSALM OF LIFE

LESSON 126 FRANKLIN’S ENTRY INTO PHILADELPHIA

LESSON 127 LINES TO A WATERFOWL

LESSON 128 GOLDSMITH AND ADDISON

LESSON 129 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

LESSON 130 CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON

LESSON 131 EULOGY ON WASHINGTON

LESSON 132 THE SOLITARY REAPER

LESSON 133 VALUE OF THE PRESENT

LESSON 134 HAPPINESS

LESSON 135 MARION

LESSON 136 A COMMON THOUGHT

LESSON 137 A DEFINITE AIM IN READING

LESSON 138 ODE TO MT. BLANC