本书选自英美文学目前20多位有名作家的作品，编写内容按体裁划分为戏剧、诗歌、小说节选三个部分，每一部分包涵四篇以上的经典名篇，此外，还编写有作者的英文简介并提供作者图片。每篇经典选文后有作品简介、佳句汉译、思考题、思考题以及注释等。通过学习经典，能够提高大学生的阅读理解能力，赏析文学作品的能力和写作水平，并增进学生对于英语国家的社会文化知识和风土人情的了解，提高其人文素养。

Chapter 1 Understanding Drama
Introduction
Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
Salome
Desire Under the Elms
A Streetcar Named Desire
Chapter 2 Understanding Poetry
Introduction
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
English (Shakespearean)Sonnets
All the World's a Stage
Auld Lang Syne
A Red, Red Rose
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
When We Two Parted
When You Are Old
Requiescat
Annabel Lee
Holy Sonnets: Death, Be Not Proud
When I Am Dead, My Dearest
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave
Chapter 3 Understanding Fiction
Introduction
A Rose for Emily
Hills Like White Elephant
Araby
The Yellow Wallpaper
The Stom
Animal Fam
Jane Eyre
Pride and Prejudice
A Tale of Two Cities
The Scarlet Letter
Bartleby, the Scrivener
The Great Gatsby
Bibliography