本书专为大学英语专业学生编写，也可作为非英语专业学生相关选修课教材。全书分十章，从古希腊讲起，到当代结束，讲授欧洲文化的各个方面，包括历史、哲学、宗教、文学、艺术、建筑等，图文并茂，难词配有音标和汉译，每章后配有练习题，书后附参考答案。

目录(简要版)：

Chapter One The Classic Age：Greek and Roman Cultures

Ⅰ.Greek Culture

1.Background

2.Literature

3.History

4.Philosophy

5.Science

6.Art，Architecture，Sculpture and Pottery

7.Influence and Contribution

Ⅱ.Roman Culture

1.Background

2.Literature

3.Architecture and Sculpture

Exercises

Chapter Two Biblical Culture

Ⅰ.Introduction

Ⅱ.The Old Testament

1.Fhe Old Lestament

2.Components of the Old Testament

Ⅲ.Rise of Christianity

1.The Life ofJesus

2.The Spread of Christianity

Ⅳ.The New Testament

1.The Birth ofJesus

2.Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil

3.The Sermon on the Mount

4.The Last Supper

5.The Crucifixion

6.Translation of the Bible

Exercises

Chapter Three The Middle Ages：Pavement for Renaissance

Ⅰ.IntrOductiOn

Ⅱ.Manor and Church

1.Feudalism

2.The Church

3.The Crusades

Ⅲ.Learning and Science

1.Charlemagne and Carolingian Renaissance

2.Alfred the Great and Wessex as the Centre of Learning

3.St.Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism

4.Roger Bacon and Experimental Science

Ⅳ.Literature

1.National Epics

Chapter Four The Age of Renaissance and Religious Reformation

Chapter Five The Age of Experiments in the Seventeenth Century

Chapter Six The Age of Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century

Chapter Seven The Age of Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century

Chapter Eight The Age of Marxism，Darwinism and Other“-isms”

Chapter Nine The Age of Realism

Chapter Ten The Age of Modernism in the Twentieth Century

Key to the Exercises