本教材是国务院批准的教育部“面向21世纪振兴行动计划”的重点工程“新世纪网络课程建设工程”项目之一，由郑树棠教授为项目总责任人和教材总主编。全国十几所重点院校的专家教授参加编写，胡文仲等国内外专家为顾问。教材编写以人为本，以教学为中心，以《大纲》[修订版]为基础，以教学手段的改革为思路，以质量为保证，以特色求发展，以上一个新台阶为目标，积极应对高教大发展、教育国际化带来的新挑战。

Unit 1

Section A Alfred Nobel: A Man Of Peace

Section B Marie Curie: A Twentieth-Century Woman

Section C Nobel Prize Winners

Unit 2

Section A Speaking of Men and Women...

Section B Women and Change

Section C A Woman Looks at the Future

Unit 3

Section A Trying to Fit into a New Family

Section B Adoption

Section C The Story of an Adoptive Mother

Unit 4

Section A Stopping Smoking in Public Places?

Section B A Decision Made Too Late

Section C The Future of Cigarette Makers

Unit 5

Section A Many Choices in Shopping

Section B Advertising Everywhere

Section C Mediium or Large

Unit 6

Section A The More You Give, the Happier You Become

Section B Keep Alive Your Sense of Humor

Section C Anger Doesn't Make Things Better

Unit 7

Section A Why Getting Married So Young?

Section B Love or Infatuation?

Section C Live Together First?

Unit 8

Section A Treating Illness

Section B Headaches

Section C Food and Health

Unit 9

Section A Little Saigon

Section B Thought of Myself as an American

Section C Migration Today

Unit 10

Section A High Technology in the Hous

Section B The Fun They Had in School

Section C Do Computers Help You to Learn?

Appendix

Presupposed Word List

Glossary 

World Counting

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