該書為“跨越概念——高等院校英語專業繫列教材”之《精讀教師用書（第四冊）》。本書以指導性與靈活性相結合為原則，在為教師備課提供具體指導的同時，也為他們的教學實踐提供了自由發揮與創造的空間。對自學者而言，可作為輔助參考，不易產生依賴。

unit 1 us and them
unit 2 a match made in heaven
unit 3 the culture of liberty
unit 4 speed freak
unit 5 the two faces of ghana
unit 6 sister flowers
unit 7 reviving the lost art of naming the world
unit 8 doublespeak
unit 9 flamers： cranks， fetishists and monomaniacs
unit 10 navigating the age of exploration and restoring our capacity for astonishment
unit 11 the end of the financial world as we know it
unit 12 do economists need brains?
unit 13 the frontier within
unit 14 a modest proposal
unit 15 the wrongfulness of euthanasia
unit 16 americans and the land