推荐序

To the readers / students / teachers,

As a long-time teacher of English as a second language and an editor and writer of language learning material, I am pleased to recommend this book.

Learning a foreign language is tough. It requires hard work, concentration, repetition, critical thinking to organize the various elements, and patience. The problem with a lot of English-learning materials on the market is that they fail to provide readers and students with two key elements they need to progress in an effective manner:interesting material that keeps the reader motivated to learn and material that is organized in a meaningful way to aid in the comprehension and retention of language. Often, when students encounter boring and poorly organized material, they find it quite difficult to keep a sufficient level of interest in it. Even if they struggle to keep using such a material, they eventually give up, thinking that they are in failure as students. The truth is, though, that it is really the learning material that failed to instruct them. The book, magazine, or video, etc., did not do its job properly.

Knowing that bookstores are filled with too many English-learning books of poor quality, I am especially happy when I find a book such as this one. This book has many elements that I think are necessary for learning English effectively and efficiently. First, the creators of the book have chosen a good variety of excellent topics that most readers are interested in. The fact that great care has been taken in choosing fascinating subjects for the articles also appeals to me. The article is not only true but also interesting. Looking through this book, it is easy to see that the articles would be of interest to many readers.

The book starts off with science. This section has well-written stories on the universe, meat-eating plants, the layer of Earth, dinosaurs and so on. Another category of stories is society and also has good articles, many of them about American life and history. This gives readers a look into the American culture. In another section on history, readers will learn interesting facts about the American Revolution, the two World Wars and the Great Depression, for example.

In addition to the excellent topics mentioned above, the book contains an important section called "Language Art." Here, some very useful grammatical lessons are taught, along with information on how to write paragraphs and longer stories. Since writing essays, other reports and emails in English is a very common requirement, these lessons are very useful to everyone.

One of the best features of this book is its similarity to material that is used in educational systems in the United States. This means that the vocabulary taught reflects the actual words and phrases commonly used by native English speakers. This makes the learning experience much more valuable, especially if readers plan to study overseas in an English-speaking country one day.

All in all, this book is an excellent book designed to help readers acquire English skills in an enjoyable way.

Brian Foden

给亲爱的读者/ 学生/ 教师：

身为一名多年面向非英语国家学生授课的英语教师以及语言学习书的编著者，我很乐意为大家推荐这本书。

学习外语确非易事。它需要努力、专注、背诵和将各种不同元素组织起来的批判性思考，以及耐心。市面上许多英语学习书的问题是忽略了让读者有效学习的两项关键因素。第一是有趣的内容，能够激发读者的学习动机；第二是有系统组织架构的内容，足以帮助读者理解和记忆此语言。当学生碰到无趣又缺乏系统的内容时，他们通常很难对它产生足够的兴趣，即使勉强自己阅读，最终难免放弃，甚至认为自己作为学生是失败的。事实上，这是由于没有选到正确的学习材料造成的，不管是书籍、杂志或视频等都没能发挥好的效果。

正因为市面上充斥着各种品质不佳的英语书，当我看到这本书时，深感喜悦。此书拥有许多能让英语学习有效且高效的要素。首先，此书的编者精选了各种主题极佳的文章，都是大部分读者深感兴趣的。文章的挑选的确相当谨慎用心，不仅真实而且有趣。通览此书，显而易见的是大部分读者会对这些文章产生兴趣。

此书由科学篇开始，这部分的文章写得非常好，内容涵括宇宙、食肉植物、地层、恐龙等。另一类则是社会篇，其中包括同样精彩的文章，大部分关于美国人的生活和历史，这让读者可以深入了解美国文化。读者可以通过历史篇，了解美国独立战争、两次世界大战以及经济大萧条等令人感兴趣的史实。

除了以上吸引人的主题之外，此书还包含一个重要单元，称为“语文篇”。好似帮大家上了一堂实用的语法课，并教你如何撰写段落和较长的故事。由于用英语写文章和报告甚至写电子邮件都是常规需求，所以这些课程对大家来说都是相当实用的。

本书最大的特色之一是与美国教育系统所采用的材料十分相近。这意味着此书所列举的词汇反映了原汁原味的单词和短语，对于英语学习者很有帮助，尤其是对有志于出国留学者而言，这种学习经验更突显其价值。

总而言之，这是一本专为读者们轻松有趣地掌握英语技能而设计的优秀图书。

布莱恩·福登

资深英语教师

本书涵盖的内容极广，包括科学、社会人文、美国历史等方面。其中科学篇包括天文、地理、生物等知识体系，让你徜徉在语言学习的氛围中，也有机会一窥太空奥秘、认识神秘的鲨鱼、了解动物界的伙伴关系、熟悉地球结构同食物链，以及了解能源、环境污染的问题等；社会篇介绍了自由的美国、美国形形色色的舞步以及各种有趣的比赛，甚至介绍了美国本土印第安人的生活方式，还带领大家探访黄石国家公园等，让读者了解美国社会以及美国文化风情；历史篇谈到美国的独立、领土的扩张、内战、大萧条时期以及冷战等一系列历史，让读者以更深入的角度看懂美国；语文篇及数学篇则让读者了解到一些语文课、数学课上的专用术语的表达。

在其他篇中，则涵盖一些具有特色的课程，诸如手工制作、学校宠物日及班级演出等，让大家感受美国小学生活的丰富多彩。总之，这本书仿佛是一本小型百科全书，不只让你学到地道的英语，还能使你拓展知识、了解美国文化风情，并增加学习英语的趣味性。另外，译文增强了阅读的便利性，让读者根据自己的需要进行学习。

最后，衷心期望本书能带领各位读者走向更宽广的英语学习之路。

赵岚

最后，衷心期望本书能带领各位读者走向更宽广的英语学习之路。