本教材是为高等学校文科学生学习基础英语而编写的，旨在帮助学生练好语音、词汇和语法的基本功，着重培养阅读、理解能力，兼顾听、说、译、写的能力。

课文是每课的中心，选材以原文为主，酌情删改。教材结合文科特点，力求内容丰富、文体多样。全书课文共有生词和词组2400个左右，绝大部分为常用词或次常用词。第二册课文计有生词和词组640个。每课课文的后面有生词表和注释。本书特点：对话以日常生活为题材，目的是让学生获得初步的会话技能，补充读物集中在各册的后面，语法采用难点适当分散讲解的方法。

Lesson One

 Text:Tom Meets with the Prince

 Dialogue:Asking the Way

 Grammar:I.The Preposition

   II.The Absolute Forms of the Possessive Pronoun

   III.The Reflexive Pronoun

 Word Study:get,have

Lesson Two

 Text:Lost--A Coat

 Dialogue:Advice

 Grammar:The Present Perfect Tense

 Word Study:take,bring

Lesson Three

 Text:The Sea

 Dialogue:Weather

 Grammar:I.The Degrees of Comparison of the Adjective and the Adverb

   II.The Numeral

 Word Study:look,know

Lesson Four

 Text:The Taj Mahal

 Dialogue:At the Post Office

 Grammar:I.The Voice

   II.The Passive Voice(I)

 Word Study:go,come

Lesson Five

 Text:All for the Wounded

 Dialogue:Illness

 Grammar:I.Types of Sentences

   II.The Adverbial Clause(I)

 Word Study:turn,leave

Lesson Six

 Text:Britain

 Dialogue:A Telephone Call

 Grammar:The Object Clause(I)

 Word Study:feel,hold

Revision Exercises(LL.1--6)

Lesson Seven

 Text:The Peace Rose(I)

 Dialogue:Shopping

 Grammar:I.The Attributive Clause(I)

   II.The Past Continuous Tense

 Word Study:tell,grow

Lesson Eight

 Text:The Peace Rose(II)

 Dialogue:At the Barber Shop

 Grammar:I.The Non-finite Forms of the Verb

   II.The Infinitive(I)

   III.The Past Perfect Tense

 Word Study:see,hope

Lesson Nine

 Text:The Boston Tea Party

 Dialogue:At the Restaurant

 Grammar:I.The Passive Voice(II)

   II.The Object Complement and the Subject Complement

 Word Study:make,spend

Lesson Ten

 Text:Bank Services

 Dialogue:Hobbies

 Grammar:The Infinitive(II)

 Word Study:find,ask

Lesson Eleven

 Text:The Grateful Crane

 Dialogue:Making Vacation Plans

 Grammar:I.The Participle(I)

   II.The Past Future Indefinite Tense

 Word Study:say,keep

Lesson Twelve

 Text:Sailing Round the World

 Dialogue:Seeing Someone Off

 Gramme:The Gerund(I)

 Word Study:meet,begin

Revision Exercises(LL.7--12)

Supplementary Readings

 I.The Prince's New Life Begins

 II.Lost in,the Fog

 III.Food from the Sea

 IV.The Lorelei

 V.Dr.Bethune Apologized

 VI.Cambridge--The University Town

 VII.'Little Red Devils'

 VIII.Over the Himalayas and Beyond

 IX.The Boycott

 X.Early Days of the,Mail.

 XI.A Wise Judge

 XII.An Unknown Young Pilot

Appendix 1

 Irregular Verbs to Be Found in Book I and Book II

Appendix 2

 Differences in British and American Spellings

Appendix 3

 Poems

Appendix 4

 Songs and Riddles

Appendix 5

 Vocabulary