韩红梅主编的《灾害英语选读》内容主要选自国外各类媒体对各种自然灾害及公共安全事件的评述报道、新闻社论、专家解析、历史回顾和未来展望，旨在使学习者对各种自然灾害和公共安全事件有一定了解的同时，掌握该领域常见词语的特定英语表达方式，进一步提高其英语水平。另外，关于灾难的报道和评论对培养学习者的人文关怀也具有一定的作用。

本书可供英语专业高年级学生作为“报刊英语选读”课程的补充教材使用，也可供非英语专业高年级开设选修课使用，还可以作为防灾减灾工作人员和其他英语爱好者的英语读物。使用本书作为教材的教师可以配合阅读技巧和阅读内容进行讲解，帮助学生扩大词汇量、提高阅读理解能力，同时通过对文章遣词造句的研究讨论来提高学生的写作能力。教师在组织学生进行问题讨论的同时，可以引导学生进行进一步的阅读，从而提高学生的自主学习能力。另外，对书中评论性文章，教师可引导学生积极思考，培养其批判思维能力。

　　韩红梅主编的《灾害英语选读》主要选自国外媒体对各种自然灾害及公共安全事件的评述报道、新闻社论、专家解析、历史回顾和未来展望。对于每一种自然灾害和公共安全事件，《灾害英语选读》中都有一个简短的介绍，是为普及科普知识付出的一点努力。在全书的内容编排上，根据自然灾害和公共安全事件的类型分为四部分，每部分根据具体灾害和公共安全事件分为不同单元，每单元精选三篇阅读文章。前两篇文章设置有练习题，第三篇设计为扩展阅读。书后附有习题答案和词汇表，供学习者参考。

Part One Geological Disasters

 Unit One Earthquakes

Text A Squeezing Water from Rock

Text B Can We Save California?

Text C Earthquakes Shake Northern Italy

 Unit Two Mudslides and Landslides

Text A Hundreds Killed in Rio de Janeiro Mudslides

Text B When Land Slides

Text C Papua New Guinea: Dozens Dead and Missing in Landslide

 Unit Three Tsunamis

Text A Going Vertical: Fleeing Tsunamis by Moving up, Not out

Text B Tsunami Wreaks Mental Health Havoc

Text C Indonesia: Inadequate Relief Endangers Disaster Victims

 Unit Four Volcano Eruptions

Text A Deepest Explosive Eruption on Sea Floor: Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle Jason Images Discovery

Text B Volcanic Ash Cloud Leaves Hundreds of Thousands Stranded in Europe

Text C Could a Changing Climate Set off Volcanoes and Quakes?

Part Two Meteorological Disasters

 Unit One Floods

Text A Queensland Crisis Points to Lack of Flood Mitigation and Basic Infrastructure

Text B More Deaths As a "Wall of Water" Engulfs Queensland Towns

Text C Pakistan's Despair: Through Hell and High Water

 Unit Two Hurricanes

Text A Hurricane Isaac Pounds Gulf Coast

Text B New Orleans Braces for Gustav

Text C Special Report on the Galveston Hurricane

 Unit Three Tornadoes

Text A Nighttime Tornadoes are Worst Nightmare: Twisters

 That Occur from Midnight to Dawn are 2.5 Times More Likely to Kill

Text B Is Climate Change Causing an Upsurge in US Tornadoes?

Text C Tri-State Tornado: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, March 1925

 Unit Four Snow and Ice

Text A Mounting Anger over Sydney Hailstorm Disaster

Text B China on Ice

Text C East Coast Blizzard Lays Bare Social Crisis of US Cities

Part Three Biological Disasters

 Unit One Pest Disaster

Text A The Perfect Swarm: Locusts Threaten Eastern Australia

Text B The Beaver: Destructive Pest or Climate Saviour?

Text C Cricket Swarm Brings Plague to State-s North-Insects

 Keep Finding Ways to Thwart Efforts to Eradicate Them

 Unit Two Viruses

Text A HIV/AIDS Danger Increasing in the West

Text B EU States Downplay Risk as Bird Flu Spreads Toward Western Europe.

Text C US West Nile Virus Cases Double in One Week

Part Four Events of Public Security

 Unit One Industrial Disasters

Text A Deathin the Darkness

Text B China- s Toxic Shock

Text C After Fukushima: Massive Global Expansion of Nuclear Industry Under Way

 Unit Two Traffic Accidents

Text A What Brought Down Air France Flight 447?

Text B Australia: Fatal Train Accident Highlights Infrastructure Decay

Text C Mean Streets

 Unit Three Environmental Disasters

Text A Severe Dust Storm Hits Australian Coastal Cities

Text B Pollution Lingers at Old Missile Sites

Text C Gulf Oil Spill Threatens Public Health

Key to Exercises

Glossary