以国家教委颁发的《大学英语教学大纲》关于“培养学生具有较强的阅读能力”为宗旨，以“考试中心”关于四、六级英语考试增加新题型的通知为指导，以避免“应试教学”，注重“素质教育”为目标，编者对本书作了第二次修订，供读者使用。

该书课文内容涉及面较广，包括科普知识、科幻小品、最新科技动态、生物趣闻、世界奇迹、名人轶事以及反映英美国家风土人情及美国人的体育爱好、节日消遣、医疗保健、邮政通讯、衣食住行等等内容的短文。该书可供各大专院校作为教材使用，也可供从事相关工作的人员作为参考用书使用。

技巧篇

 使用说明

 How to Find Time to Read (如何找出时间阅读)

经验篇

 坚持教学改革，抓好快速阅读，全面提高大学英语教学水平

实践篇

 Unit One The Old Man and the Sea

 Unit Two From Earth to Moon

 Unit Three The First Men on Venus

 Unit Four Elephants

 Unit Five Sometimes They Seem Almost Human

 Unit Six Healthy Eating

 Unit Seven Plastics -- Man's Most Useful Material

 Unit Eight Sports Around the World

 Unit Nine Madame Curie and Radium

 Unit Ten Leaming Science

 Unit Eleven Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

 Unit Twelve The Prince and the Judge

 Unit Thirteen The Tragedy from the Califomian Gold Rush

 Unit Fourteen A Ship of Ice

 Unit Fifteen Nature Recycles Water

 Unit Sixteen Paper and Its Uses

 Unit Seventeen Pyramids

 Unit Eighteen Tokyo

 Unit Nineteen Eskimos in a Changing World

 Unit Twenty Cultural Survival, Inc.

 Unit Twenty-One Energy Sense Makes Future Sense

 Unit Twenty-Two Waste Not, Want Not

 Unit Twenty-Three Money

 Unit Twenty-Four Talk Returns to the Doctor's Office

 Unit Twenty-Five Dreams -- What Do They Mean?

 Unit Twenty-Six Have You Ever Seen a Flying Saucer?

 Unit Twenty-Seven Computers Concern You

 Unit Twenty-Eight Early Birds

 Unit Twenty-Nine Alfred Nobel -- a Man of Contrasts

 Unit Thirty The Tramp and the Philosopher

 Unit Thirty-One Better Known as Mark Twain

 Unit Thirty-Two Education in the United States

 Unit Thirty-Three Transportation

 Unit Thirty-Four Communications

 Unit Thirty-Five American Food and Drink

 Unit Thirty-Six Graveyard of the Atlantic

Supplementary Speed Reading Material

 1. Fire Making

 2. The Development of Textile Fibres

 3. East or West

 4. A Chimp in Space

 5. Geography of the United States

 6. The Weather

 7. Country Living

 8. Food and Cooking

 9. Vacations

 10. Sports in America

 11. Medical Treatment

 12.Postal Services

 13. Weights and Measures

 14. Libraries

 15. Expert Says Arctic Ocean Will Soon Be an Open Sea

 16. The Wizard of Menlo Park

Answers

Appendix (Useful Methods for Reading Given by Students)

 我学英语的“诀窍”

 阅读使我受益匪浅——谈我学习英语的体会

 知之不如好之

 浅谈阅读与写作——八六级四级英语统考作文题的写作体会

 我是怎样学好英语的

 我们“思”“飞”的路

 抓好基础，重视阅读，全面提高英语教学质量

Acknowledgements