本教材包括四个部分八个单元，除了第八单元经典戏剧阅读一篇和第五单元两篇外，其余每个单元均设计为三篇。第一部分是经典散文阅读，分为三个单元。这三个单元中每个单元都选取一个作家的作品。主要选取的是英国的培根、兰姆和哈兹里特三位散文家的共九篇散文。第二部分是美国文献阅读。本部分分为两个单元。主要选取的是美国《独立宣言》、潘恩的《常识》、杰斐逊和肯尼迪等几位美国总统就职演讲词以及林肯葛底斯堡演说词。第三部分是英美经典诗歌阅读，分为两个单元。主要选取的是诗人雪莱、济慈、拜伦、叶芝、T．S．艾略特和罗伯特·弗罗斯特等的六首经典诗歌。第四部分是经典戏剧阅读，由于戏剧篇幅相对较长，所以本单元仅选一篇，是莎士比亚最著名的悲剧《哈姆雷特》。

Part One Essay Reading
UNIT 1 Francis Bacon
Of Marriage and Single Life
Of Riches
Of Death
UNIT 2 Charles Lamb
Dream-Children: A Reverie
Grace Before Meat
A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behavior of Married People
UNIT 3 William Hazlitt
On The Fear of Death
On the Ignorance of the Learned
On Going a Journey
Part Two Historical Documents of the United States
UNIT 4
United States Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address (1801)
Common Sense
UNIT 5
The Gettysburg Address
Inaugural Address of John F.Kennedy
Part Three Poetry Reading
UNIT 6
Ode to the West Wind
Ode to a Nightingale
She Walks in Beauty
UNIT 7
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Adam's Curse
The Road Not Taken
Part Four Drama Reading
UNIT 8 William Shakespeare
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark