本教程分为两册，本书为第2册。本教材内容新颖、材料真实、题材广泛，涉及工业、农业、文学、医学、艺术、历史、科学、教育、能源、环境、社会等36个主题。选文兼顾不同学科，融知识性、趣味性和可读性于一体。为更好地体现可读性和趣味性，编者特地安排了4个“轻松阅读”单元，相信将会极大地激发学生的兴趣，让学生在感知英语语言魅力的同时，其科学素养和人文精神在潜移默化中得到培养。

Unit 1 Food and Diet

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Food: Past and Present

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 A New Diet Equation

Passage 2 Diet, Nutrition and Healthy Living

Passage 3 Cancer and Diet

Unit 2 Archaeology

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Excavating an Ancient Egyptian Tomb

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension ( Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Troy Uncovered

Passage 2 Pompeii: Buried in Ages

Passage 3 Machu Picchu Archaeological Sites

Unit 3 Medicine

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

A Brief History of Medicine

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 The Controversy over Human Cloning

Passage 2 Natural Medicine -- The Way Home

Passage 3 How to Build a Body  Part

Unit 4 Space

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

When Galaxies Collide

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Transient Lunar Phenomena

Passage 2 Water, Flash Floods and New Possibilities for Life on Mars

Passage 3 The Salyut Experience

Unit 5 History

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Rome: From Republic to Empire

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Anglo-Saxon England

Passage 2 The Enlightenment

Passage 3 Victorian Era

Unit 6 Biography

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

An American Storyteller: Ernest Hemingway

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Johannes Kepler

Passage 2 Napoleon -- Downfall and Legend

Passage 3 Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck

Unit 7 Leisure Reading(Ⅲ)

Passage 1 Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder

Passage 2 The Trial of O. J. Simpson

Passage 3 That Lean and Hungry Look

Passage 4 An Excerpt from Jane Eyre

Unit 8 Economics

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

What Is Economics?

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension {Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations

Passage 2 Karl Marx's Economic Conceptions

Passage 3 John Maynard Keynes

Unit 9 Materials Science

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

A Brief History of Materials

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension {Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 The Age of Superstuff

Passage 2 Superconductor Search: a Race and an Obsession

Passage 3 The Future of Nanomaterials

Unit 10 Philosophy

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

What Is Philosophy?

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Socratic Method

Passage 2 Rene Descartes' Dualism and Rationalism

Passage 3 Brief Introduction to Kant

Unit 11 Law

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

An Introduction to Law

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Origins of Common Law

Passage 2 The American Jury System: Standing in the Way of Justice7

Passage 3 Nuremberg Trials

Unit 12 Education

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

The University and Society

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Set Universities Free

Passage 2 Requirements for Completion in U.S. Graduate Schools

Passage 3 Bertrand Russell on Education

Unit 13 Sports

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Social Aggregates and Cultural Influences in the Rise of Sport

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Good Sports

Passage 2 Spectator Sports Reflect America's Melting Pot

Passage 3 How David Stern and Michael Jordan May Have Destroyed the NBA

Unit 14 Leisure Reading(Ⅳ)

Passage 1 King Edward Ⅷ Abdicated for Love

Passage 2 Love Is a Fallacy (Part Ⅰ)

Passage 3 Love Is a Fallacy (Part Ⅱ)

Passage 4 An Excerpt from Death in the Afternoon

Unit 15 Entertainment

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

The Beatles

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Is the Web the Future of Entertainment?

Passage 2 A History of Oscar's Ups and Downs

Passage 3 Soap Opera

Unit 16 Book Review

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension ( Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Passage 2 Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

Passage 3 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Unit 17 Computer and Internet

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Computer Science

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Life on the Net

Passage 2 Alienation and the Internet

Passage 3 Crime in Cyberspace

Unit 18 Architecture

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

European Architecture: History and Styles

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage I The Castles of Europe

Passage 2 Islamic Architecture

Passage 3 Modern Architecture: Reaching for the Sky

Unit 19 Management

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Management Strategies in Competing with Japan

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Chaos Theory of Management

Passage 2 Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Passage 3 Scenario Planning

Unit 20 Psychology

 Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)

Freudian Psychology and Psychoanalysis

 Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

Passage 1 Dreams: Night School

Passage 2 Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Passage 3 The New Word on Gossip

Keys

References