《英语散文选读》是高等院校英语专业教材，也可作为社会上英语爱好者自学之用。编者以独特的视角，精选了弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫、D.H.劳伦斯、伯特兰·罗素、乔森纳．斯威夫特等不同历史时期的西方著名作家、学者的名篇全文和节选，内容涉及文学、艺术、历史、社会、宗教和日常生活等诸多方面，所选作品老到深邃与机智活泼兼收、简洁朴实与华丽堂皇并举，堪称思想性和艺术性兼而有之的上乘佳作，英语学习者和爱好者可从中管窥精深博大的西方文明思想。
全书分为18个单元，各单元文章主题力求相关，旨在为学习者提供不同视角，以扩展思维和想象；作者介绍和词句注释详细贴切，为读者的理解和鉴赏补充了大量背景知识，课内讨论问题和写作任务，加强读者的语言技能，引导读者思考，提高读者的文学鉴赏能力，词汇训练和阅读在扩大读者词汇量和阅读量的同时，为读者的进一步学习打下坚实的基础……

Unit 1
Text A My Wood
Text B The Crooked Streets
Unit 2
Text A On a Faithful Friend
Text B The Ant-Lion
Unit 3
Text A Film Making
Text B The Nature of Dramatic Illusion
Unit 4
Text A Meditation on the Moon
Text B The Faces of Buddha
Unit 5
Text A Snow
Text B This Autumn Morning
Unit 6
Text A Seeing People Off
Text B The Shadow in the Rose Garden
Unit 7
Text A On Arrivals
Text B On Doors
Unit 8
Text A French and English
Text B The English and the Americans
Unit 9
Text A The Pleasures of Ignorance
Text B The Pleasures of Ignorance
Unit 10
Text A A Hanging
Text B The Ecstasy of War
Unit 11
Text A The Inner Ring
Text B On Being Modern-Minded
Unit 12
Text A Why We Fall in Love
Text B My Own Ten Rules for a Happy Marriage
Unit 13
Text A Of Great Place
Text B A Little Great Man
Unit 14
Text A The Spider and the Bee
Text B Old China
Unit 15
Text A Getting up on Cold Mornings
Text B Company of the Wisest Men
Unit 16
Text A In July
Text B The Town Week
Unit 17
Text A The Convalescent
Text B A Country Sunday
Unit 18
Text A Conversation
Text B Letter to His Son