本书编写的宗旨是通过阅读和练习，系统提升学生的词汇和语法知识，提高阅读能力和词义辨析能力。全书共有八个单元，每个单元有两课，每课由课文、练习两大部分组成，练习分词汇、语法、阅读、完型填空四部分，鉴于本书主要是用于准备笔译综合能力（3级）的考试，为了便于学员掌握有关内容和提高应试能力，练习的类型基本和考试类型相同。

本书的八个单元，由八大主题组成，分别为：体育与娱乐、旅游、政治、文化、教育和卫生、商务、工农业、科学。每个单元的两篇课文都是围绕相关主题展开，课后的阅读、完型填空等练习都和主题相关。为了便于学员掌握相关词汇，书中还列出了相关主题的基本词汇表。掌握这些基本词汇，有利于学员从事具体的翻译活动。

Lesson One

 Text A great one goes out in style, his own style

 Exercises

Ⅰ.Vocabulary

Ⅱ.Grammar: Nouns

Ⅲ.Cloze Test

Ⅳ.Reading Comprehension

 Passage One: You've won nothing yet: Campo laughs off England World Cup hopes

 Passage Two: Excerpts from Tessa Jowell's statement to the commons on the government's backing for London's Olympic bid

 Passage Three: The football code

 Passage Four: Sports and children

Lesson Two

 Text Been up, been down.Now? Super.

  Exercises

Ⅰ.Vocabulary

Ⅱ.Grammar: Adjectives

Ⅲ.Cloze Test

Ⅳ.Reading Comprehension

 Passage One: Fishing in Yellowstone

 Passage Two: French cuisine

 Passage Three: A short history of Hollywood

 Passage Four: Harry Potter and the meaning of life

Unit 2 Tourism

Unit 3 Politics

Unit 4 Culture

Unit 5 Education and Health

Unit 6 Business

Unit 7 Industry and Agriculture

Unit 8 Science

Reference keys to the exercises