LESSON 1 THE GOOD READER

LESSON 2 THE BLUEBELL

LESSON 3 THE GENTLE HAND

LESSON 4 THE GRANDFATHER

LESSON 5 A BOY ON A FARM

LESSON 6 THE SINGING LESSON

LESSON 7 DO NOT MEDDLE

LESSON 8 WORK

LESSON 9 THE MANIAC

LESSON 10 ROBIN REDBREAST

LESSON 11 THE FISH I DIDN’T CATCH

LESSON 12 IT SNOWS

LESSON 13 RESPECT FOR THE SABBATH REWARDED

LESSON 14 THE SANDS O’ DEE

LESSON 15 SELECT PARAGRAPHS

LESSON 16 THE CORN SONG

LESSON 17 THE VENOMOUS WORM

LESSON 18 THE FESTAL BOARD

LESSON 19 HOW TO TELL BAD NEWS

LESSON 20 THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM

LESSON 21 “I PITY THEM”

LESSON 22 AN ELEGY ON MADAM BLAIZE

LESSON 23 KING CHARLES II AND WILLIAM PENN

LESSON 24 WHAT I LIVE FOR

LESSON 25 THE RIGHTEOUS NEVER FORSAKEN

LESSON 26 ABOU BEN ADHEM

LESSON 27 LUCY FORESTER

LESSON 28 THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS

LESSON 29 THE TOWN PUMP

LESSON 30 GOOD NIGHT

LESSON 31 AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL

LESSON 32 MY MOTHER’S HANDS

LESSON 33 THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM

LESSON 34 THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS

LESSON 35 THE THUNDERSTORM

LESSON 36 APRIL DAY

LESSON 37 THE TEA ROSE

LESSON 38 THE CATARACT OF LODORE

LESSON 39 THE BOBOLINK

LESSON 40 ROBERT OF LINCOLN

LESSON 41 REBELLION IN MASSACHUSETTS STATE PRISON

LESSON 42 FAITHLESS NELLY GRAY

LESSON 43 THE GENEROUS RUSSIAN PEASANT

LESSON 44 FORTY YEARS AGO

LESSON 45 MRS. CAUDLE’S LECTURE

LESSON 46 THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH

LESSON 47 THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW

LESSON 48 THE SNOWSTORM

LESSON 49 BEHIND TIME

LESSON 50 THE OLD SAMPLER

LESSON 51 THE GOODNESS OF GOD

LESSON 52 MY MOTHER

LESSON 53 THE HOUR OF PRAYER

LESSON 54 THE WILL

LESSON 55 THE NOSE AND THE EYES

LESSON 56 AN ICEBERG

LESSON 57 ABOUT QUAIL

LESSON 58 THE BLUE AND THE GRAY

LESSON 59 THE MACHINIST’S RETURN

LESSON 60 MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY

LESSON 61 THE ENGLISH SKYLARK

LESSON 62 HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE

LESSON 63 THE RAINBOW

LESSON 64 SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS

LESSON 65 THE RISING

LESSON 66 CONTROL YOUR TEMPER

LESSON 67 WILLIAM TELL

LESSON 68 WILLIAM TELL (CONCLUDED)

LESSON 69 THE CRAZY ENGINEER

LESSON 70 THE HERITAGE

LESSON 71 NO EXCELLENCE WITHOUT LABOR

LESSON 72 THE OLD HOUSE CLOCK

LESSON 73 THE EXAMINATION

LESSON 74 THE ISLE OF LONG AGO

LESSON 75 THE BOSTON MASSACRE

LESSON 76 DEATH OF THE BEAUTIFUL

LESSON 77 SNOW FALLING

LESSON 78 SQUEERS’S METHOD

LESSON 79 THE GIFT OF EMPTY HANDS

LESSON 80 CAPTURING THE WILD HORSE

LESSON 81 SOWING AND REAPING

LESSON 82 TAKING COMFORT

LESSON 83 CALLING THE ROLL

LESSON 84 TURTLE SOUP

LESSON 85 THE BEST KIND OF REVENGE

LESSON 86 THE SOLDIER OF THE RHINE

LESSON 87 THE WINGED WORSHIPERS

LESSON 88 THE PEEVISH WIFE

LESSON 89 THE RAINY DAY

LESSON 90 BREAK, BREAK, BREAK

LESSON 91 TRANSPORTATION AND PLANTING OF SEEDS

LESSON 92 SPRING AGAIN

LESSON 93 RELIGION THE ONLY BASIS OF SOCIETY

LESSON 94 ROCK ME TO SLEEP

LESSON 95 MAN AND THE INFERIOR ANIMALS

LESSON 96 THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

LESSON 97 A HOME SCENE

LESSON 98 THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS

LESSON 99 A CHASE IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

LESSON 100 BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE

LESSON 101 LITTLE VICTORIES

LESSON 102 THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE

LESSON 103 THE ART OF DISCOURAGEMENT

LESSON 104 THE MARINER’S DREAM

LESSON 105 THE PASSENGER PIGEON

LESSON 106 THE COUNTRY LIFE

LESSON 107 THE VIRGINIANS

LESSON 108 MINOT’S LEDGE

LESSON 109 HAMLET

LESSON 110 DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG

LESSON 111 A PEN PICTURE

LESSON 112 THE GREAT VOICES

LESSON 113 A PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE

LESSON 114 A SUMMER LONGING

LESSON 115 FATE

LESSON 116 THE BIBLE THE BEST OF CLASSICS

LESSON 117 MY MOTHER’S BIBLE

This series of schoolbooks teaching reading and moral precepts, originally prepared by William Holmes who was a professor at Miami University McGuffey, had a profound influence on public education in the United States. The eclectic readers, meaning that the selections were chosen from a number of sources, were considered remarkably literary works and probably exerted a greater influence upon literary tastes in the United States more than any other book, excluding the Bible.

It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to that mark. McGuffey's Readers are still in use today in some school systems, and by parents for home schooling purposes.

The fifth reader was designed for elocutionary exercises to increase articulation, inflection, pitch, accent, rate, emphasis and gesture. It contained poetry and prose by Sigourney, Montgomery, Addison, Irving, Young and Byron.

呈现于读者面前的这套《美国语文读本》，亦名《麦加菲读本》，其编者威廉·H·麦加菲曾先后任美国迈阿密大学语言学教授和俄亥俄大学校长。

《美国语文读本》从19世纪中期至20世纪中叶，一直被广泛用作美国学校的语文教材，据称有10000多所美国学校拿它当作教材。美国著名汽车制造商亨利·福特称赞这套书是他儿童时代最有兴趣的读物，后来他自费大量印刷这套书，分发给很多学校。到了21世纪，西方一些私立学校(Private School)和家庭学校(Homeschool(仍用它作为教材，足见这套书的价值与影响力。

这套读本的英文原版共分七级，包括启蒙读本和第1-6级。本书为《美国语文读本》第5册。书中均是比较正式的课文，每一课包括词汇和课文，对一些生词有英文解释，让学生学会通过简单英文理解生词，养成用英语理解和思维的习惯。课文前还增加了作者简介与相关背景知识，内容丰富而有一定深度。从所选课文的英文难易程度来看，该册可供高中及以上程度学习者阅读。从文体方面来看，除了常见的记叙、散文体以外，本书对诗歌、戏剧、论说文等文体也很重视，书中选取了不少名家的名作名篇。这对国内孩子们真正感受英语这一西方语言的魄力是大有帮助的。