本书试图从不同地域、不同文化背景的视角，向大家展示目前社会上人们关注的大问题和小问题，以及对这些问题的不同看法。全书分为27个单元，每个单元两篇课文，附有注释和理解练习、语言练习。其中理解练习既照顾对全文的把握又考察对词汇等细节的理解；语言练习也根据其难易程度设计不同的形式。

该书可供各大专院校作为教材使用，也可供从事相关工作的人员作为参考用书使用。

Unit 1 Child Education

 TEXT A Should You Homeschool Your Child?

 TEXT B Teach Your Children Well

Unit 2 Health

 TEXT A Can Work Kill?

 TEXT B Mental Health

Unit 3 Your Ancestry

 TEXT A So you Think You're English? (Part Ⅰ)

 TEXT B So You Think You're English? (Part Ⅱ)

Unit 4 Parenthood

 TEXT A Is There a Kipper in the House?

 TEXT B You're on Your Own Now

Unit 5 Environment

 TEXT A A Film That Could Warm Up the Debate on Global Wanning

 TEXT B No, it's Not a Ski Resort -- it's the South Pole

Unit 6 The Future of Money

 TEXT A Paying by Mobile, That'll do Nicely

 TEXT B A Cash Call

Unit 7 Who's to Blame

 TEXT A America's Tragedy

 TEXT B Public Anger Will Follow Our Sorrow

Unit 8 Learning about the Past

 TEXT A Where History Isn't Bunk

 TEXT B The Truth in Chains

Unit 9 Time and Space

 TEXT A Shaping the Future

 TEXT B Giant Step to Discovering Alien Life

Unit 10 Urbanization

 TEXT A Head for the Hills but a Heart for the City

 TEXT B China's Chicago

Unit 11 Happiness

 TEXT A The Secret to Happiness

 TEXT B How to Plant the Seeds of Happiness

Unit 12 Women's Role

 TEXT A Breaking the Glass Ceiling is Harder Abroad

 TEXT B I'll Tell You Why Women Are Running Out of Men to Marry

Unit 13 Internet Security

 TEXT A Fighting the Worms of Mass Destruction (Part Ⅰ)

 TEXT B Fighting the Worms of Mass Destruction (Part Ⅱ)

Unit 14 Character Education

 TEXT A Character Education

 TEXT B Creating a Framework for Excellence

Unit 15 What's in the News

 TEXT A The Month When Our Culture Collapses Into a Pile of Preferences

 TEXT B Crime and Punishment

Unit 16 Scientific Attitude

 TEXT A Citation Analysis

 TEXT B After Dolly: The Future of Cloning

Unit 17 Health and Medicine

 TEXT A Are Yanks Sicker Than Brats? Or Are We Just a Bunch of Hypochondriacs?

 TEXT B World's Best Medical Care?

Unit 18 Human Nature

 TEXT A We're Born to Be Wild

 TEXT B The Honesty Virus

Unit 19 Marketing

 TEXT A Forces Affecting Modem Marketing

 TEXT B The Impact of Advertising

Unit 20 Education

 TEXT A Exams Work Because They're Scary

 TEXT B We are Obsessed With Having Fun

Unit 21 Sports Scandal

 TEXT A If You Rig It, They Will Come -- How Capitalism Just Might Save Italian Soccer

 TEXT B The Secret Steroid

Unit 22 Gender Roles

 TEXT A Who's the Daddy?

 TEXT B Just Remember -- This Is a Boy Thing

Unit 23 Terrorism

 TEXT A Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers

 TEXT B The Terrorism Index

Unit 24 Future Life

 TEXT A The Future of Books

 TEXT B 2050 -and Immortality Is Within Our Grasp

Unit 25 Aging

 TEXT A The Aging Boom

 TEXT B Think Yourself Lucky

Unit 26 The Rights to Live and Die

 TEXT A Euthanasia

 TEXT B Diana, Princess of Wales, Divided the Nation

Unit 27 School and Society

 TEXT A What Adolescents Miss When We Let Them Grow Up in Cyberspace

 TEXT B How to Get On in the Real World

Appendix 1 Key to Exercises

Appendix 2 Glossary