本书共4个单元，每单元3课，共12课。每课选文前有阅读技巧介绍，后跟A和B两篇课文，课文后列出生词表、注释、作者及文章背景介绍等，并且针对阅读技巧和课文编写了大量的实用性的练习题目。  
本次修订在调研众多使用院校意见的基础上，删除一些过时、不适于教学的篇章，同时从英美*新期刊、报纸、杂志等选取一些时新的语料素材进行替换。所选文章主题契合当今研究生主要的大类专业，如经管、法律、科技、人文、医学、农林等，以适应多种专业的需求。同时对课后练习进行整体规划，增加基础级与提*级之间的逻辑性、延续性，方便教师进行延续性教学。  

彭工，中国科学院大学外语系教授，北京市高等教育学会研究生英语教学分会会长。主要研究方向为应用语言学、语料库语言学。长期担任语言学专业研究生、非英语专业硕士研究生、博士研究生的英语教学工作。主讲过语料库语言学、研究生英语阅读、研究生英语写作、*级口语、三维口语等课程。2007年获“宝钢*秀教师奖”，2008获“中国科学院教学成果奖”er等奖。
鲁显生，教授，军事医学院公共外语教研室主任，北京市高等教育学会研究生英语教学研究分会副会长。

  
Unit 1 Language  

READING SKILLS：Developing Your Reading Efficiency  

TEXT A Words Have the Power to Change Our Lives  

TEXT B Can Poetry Save Your Life?  

WRITING: Well-organized Essay Writing  

Unit 2 Cultural Varieties  

READING SKILLS：Developing Your Reading Flexibility  

TEXT A Lefties, You Should Feel Very Special  

TEXT B There’s More to Life than Being Happy  

WRITING: Paragraph  

Unit 3 Life and Health ( Ⅰ )  

READING SKILLS：Reading Rate  

TEXT A Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name  

TEXT B Self-reliance  

WRITING: Summary  

Unit 4 Work and Employment  

READING SKILLS：Skimming: Reading for Main Ideas  

TEXT A Thank God It’s Monday  

TEXT B Why Should We Hire You?  

WRITING: Resume  

Unit 5 Science and Technology  

READING SKILLS：Scanning: Rapidly Locating Information  

TEXT A If a Time Traveler Saw a Smartphone  

TEXT B Science and Technology  

WRITING: Application Letter  

Unit 6 Life and Health ( Ⅱ )  

READING SKILLS：Techniques for Reading Faster  

TEXT A Are Engineered Food Evils?  

TEXT B The Messy Truth about Weight Loss  

WRITING: Graphs  

Unit 7 Environment and Energy  

READING SKILLS：What Is Active Reading?  

TEXT A Renewable Energy Has More Economic Benefits than You Know  

TEXT B Climate Change’s Giant Impact on the Economy: 4 Key  



Issues  

WRITING: Exposition  

Unit 8 Culture and Education  

READING SKILLS：Prereading  

TEXT A How Loneliness Is Tearing America Apart  

TEXT B What Straight-A Students Get Wrong  

WRITING: Exemplification  

Unit 9 Economics and Management ( Ⅰ )  

READING SKILLS：Making Predictions and Connections  

TEXT A Toward a Happier Office with Data-driven Nudges  

TEXT B Many Restaurants and Cafes Refuse to Accept Cash  

WRITING: Cause and Effect  

Unit 10 Economics and Management ( Ⅱ )  

READING SKILLS: Improving Your Concentration  

TEXT A Gender Pay Gap Persists Despite Rise in Reporting  

TEXT B Why Women’s Voices Are Scarce in Economics  

WRITING: Comparison and Contrast  

Unit 11 Environment and Sustainability  

READING SKILLS: Increasing Your Attention Span  

TEXT A Three Challenges to Sustainability  

TEXT B True Height  

WRITING: Definition  

Unit 12 Success and Happiness  

READING SKILLS: Remembering What You Read  

TEXT A Laws of Lasting Love  

TEXT B How to Pursue Happiness  

WRITING: Argumentation  

READING COMPREHENSION TESTS  

 
Unit 1 Language  
Section Ⅰ READING SKILLS: Developing Your Reading Efficiency  
As a graduate student, you are pressed for time. Your course work, which includes reading textbook chapters, completing assignments, studying for exams, and writing papers, competes with part-time jobs and social, recreational, and housekeeping tasks. Each demands your valuable time. At times, university life may seem like a balancing or juggling act in which you are trying to do many things all at once and do all of them well. You are probably wondering if you will be able to keep up and how to get everything done. One of the best ways to handle the demands and pressures of university life is to become more efficient—to get more done in less time.  
Many students think that the only way to become more efficient is to read faster. They believe that slow reading is poor reading. This is, however, not the case. Reading efficiency means more than saving time by reading rapidly. Reading effectively includes understanding the ideas the writer is trying to send and organizing those ideas logically to remember them. Your reading efficiency will increase as you develop techniques that improve your comprehension and retention. These in turn will enable you to use your time most economically.  

Analyzing Your Reading Efficiency  
Are you an efficient reader? Here are some questions that will help you assess your reading efficiency. Answer “Yes” or “No” to the questions provided.  
1.Do you set goals and time limits for yourself at the beginning of each reading-study session?  
2.Do you have any particular questions in mind when you begin to read an assignment?  
3.Do you try to understand the author’s ideas instead of comprehending the literal meaning of each word?  
4.Do you pay attention to the paragraphs and how they are organized?  
5.While reading, do you try to predict or anticipate what the writer will say next?