本书是针对我国成人高等教育英语专业的专科起点升本科学生的英语精读教材。本书为2年级下学期使用教材，充分考虑成人学习者特点，在教程的板块设计、内容选择、语言表达等方面兼顾知识性、趣味性、语言难度等，力求内容系统连贯，使学习者在语音、词汇、语法结构等方面打下扎实的基础，并在课文讲解与练习中逐步提高英语听说、阅读、写作、翻译等能力。考虑到成人学习者工学矛盾突出，自主灵活学习要求较高，编者对每单元课文均用中文撰写了内容梗概，配备了生词表，并对课文做了详细注解，涵盖作者简介、文化背景知识、语言点知识点的解释与举例等，可拓展学生知识面，提高语言应用能力。每单元口语练习与课文内容相关，预设相关思考题，但并不涉及课文的具体内容，能较好地引导学习者进入单元主题，使学习者通过讨论，打开思路，迅速热身，同时又能运用英语表达思想，在交流中提高沟通能力。

Unit One The Private Life of Mr.Bidwell
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Linguistic Point 1：Pragmatics
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Unit Two Home Is Where the Heart Is
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Linguistic Point 2：Sociolinguistics
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Unit Three The Roles of Husband and Wife
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Linguistic Point 3：Psycholinguistics
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Unit Four Being a Secretary Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
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Linguistic Point 4：Neurolinguistics
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Unit Five Helping Parents of Gifted Children
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 1
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Unit Six Intelligence
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 2
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Unit Seven A Farewell to Arms
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 3
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Unit Eight Intelligence in an Electronic Age
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 4
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Unit Nine Neat People vs.Sloppy People
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 5
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Unit Ten Friends，Good Friends— and Such Good Friends
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 6
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Unit Eleven How Books Helped Shape My Life
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 7
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Unit Twelve Opening a Windo w to the Autistic Brain
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Survey of English-speaking Countries 8
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Appendix Key to Exercises