封一函主编的《英语人文读本(英国篇第2版)》收录的文章主题重经典意义和收藏价值。内容涉及伦理道德、宗教习俗、婚姻家庭、人际关系、大众文化、人文修养、心理健康、语言文学、经济政治、哲学美学等。写作体裁不限，包括议论文、散文、短篇自传、随笔、短篇小说等。每篇选文读来或是温馨甜蜜，或是发人深省，或是深情隽永，或是诙谐幽默，具有驱恶扬善、规谏或激励人生的精神作用。每篇文章还配有导读和生词难词及重要语言点注释，从而达到提高英语水平的目的，所选文章大多数都出自半个世纪以前的英国作家和思想家之手。

1. The Beauty Industry
2. Meditation on the Moon
3. Punishment Never Cures Anything
4. Universities and Their Function
5. In July
6. On Book-Buying
7. What I Have Lived For
8. August
9. The Child Angel: A Dream
10. Insouciance
11. Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature
12. Journey Through a Tunnel
13. Unworldliness of the Early Christians
14. Take Your Home into Your Own Hands
15. Of Boldness
16. Of Studies
17. Of Youth and Age
18. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self
19. My Life Is Over
20. Politics and the English Language
21. Getting up on Cold Mornings
22. A Passion for Cities
23. First Snow
24. The Definition of a Gentleman
25. The Tapestry of Human Life
26. The Importance of One's Own Language
27. Good and Evil
28. About Books
29. A Treatise on Good Manners and Good Breeding
30. Thoughts in Westminster Abbey
31. The Artist and the World
32. Upon Affectation
33. Heine and the Philistines
34. National Prejudices
35. Conversation
36. On Idleness
37. Preface to His Dictionary
38. Companionship of Books
39. On Recollections of Childhood
40. The Romance of History
41. On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth
42. Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs
43. Her Own Village
44. The Faces of Buddha
45. An Afternoon Walk in October
46. On a Landscape of Nicholas Poussin
47. On Going a Journey
48. Lucidity, Simplicity, Euphony
49. Of Beauty, Fame, Longevity, etc
50. The Philosopher
51. The Joys of Writing