本教材为了适应时代的发展和英语教学的需要而编写，供高等院校英语专业学生使用，也适合成人教育学院、民办院校、广播电视大学、远程教育英语专业学生及自考生和广大英语自学者使用。
本教材以《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》和交际话题的难易为依据，以功能意念为线索，融功能意念于交际之中，以日常生活中经常使用的话题为重点，且加入中国文化内容。在编写中努力体现听说结合、难度阶梯化的方式，选材注重实用性和趣味性相结合，贴近生活，体现时代特色。本教材在编写中借鉴了许多最新的口语资料，结合中国口语教学的实际情况，在编写练习的过程中，注重引导和启发，力求形式多样，内容充实，引导学生从模仿练习开始逐渐过渡到自己能够自然流畅地表达。全套教材共分四册，一、二册目标在于帮助学生打好口语基础，三、四册则侧重于培养学生的交流技巧，如公共演讲技巧、研讨谈判技巧等。配有录音。
向授课老师赠送课件。

1 Career Choice
1.1 Dream Job
1.2 Tomorrow's Jobs
1.3 Dreams Come True
1.4 Chinese Culture
2 Value Your Time
2.1 Common Misconceptions
2.2 Steps for Goal Setting
2.3 Keep Your Goals in Sight
3 The Art of Communicating
3.1 Listening in Communicating
3.2 The Art of Communicating
3.3 Case Study
4 To Be a Public Speaker
4.1 Rate Yourself as a Speaker
4.2 An Effective Emcee
4.3 End Your Presentation
5 Bidding for Connections
5.1 Friendship
5.2 The Beauties of Friendship
5.3 Making Friends
5.4 Chinese Culture
6 Conflict Resolution
6.1 Conflict Management
6.2 Steps to Managing Conflict
6.3 Resolution Tips
7 Customs
7.1 The Dinner Party
7.2 Customs
7.3 Festival Time
8 Community Life
8.1 Why Do Community Family Life Services Exist?
8.2 Community Life
8.3 DIY
8.4 Chinese Culture
9 Transportation and Environment
9.1 Underinvestment
9.2 Transportation and Pollution
9.3 Fun
9.4 Chinese Culture
10 Famous Cities
10.1 Famous Cities
10.2 The Best, Worst Places to Live
10.3 Favorite Places
11 Computer Crimes
11.1 Computer Virus
11.2 New Threat
11.3 News Report
11.4 Chinese Culture
12 People and Nature
12.1 Life on Earth and Ocean Stories
12.2 Aging
12.3 Water
13 Life or Death
13.1 Survival
13.2 Near Death
13.3 Critical Issues
14 To Reduce Pollution
14.1 Pollution Control
14.2 Earth Day
14.3 Love Our Earth
15 Animal Protection
15.1 Loss
15.2 Gardens and Wild Life
15.3 Protect, Protect, and Protect
15.4 Chinese Culture
Tapescript