大学英语泛读教程（第一册）

《大学英语泛读教程》编写的目的就是希望学习者通过阅读，能在各个方面有所提高。《大学英语泛读教程》共有4册。

Topic 1 Freshmen
1 Keys to Freshman Success
2 Differences between High School and College"
3 What Good Is a College Education?

Topic 2 Language
4 Language First
5 The Key to Language
6　 Emotional Power of Words

Topic 3 Happiness
7 Why Is Happiness Important?
8. Which Comes First: Success or Happiness?
9 Tips for Happiness

Topic 4 Love
I0 Happy Blind Susan
II. The Coolest Dad
12 All Mum's Letters

Topic 5 Touching Stories
13 Thinking of You
14. A Little Care Goes a Long Way
15 A Dime's Worth of Christmas Gift

Topic 6 Education
16. Home Schooling
17. Teddy
18. College Lectures: Is Anybody Listening?

Topic 7 Celebrities
19. Bill Gates' Route to Success
20. Disabled But Not Ruined
21. Magic Harry Houdini

Topic 8 Women
22. Desperate to Be Housewives
23 Motherhood
24. Women in Science

Topic 9 Violence
25. Violence in Entertainment
26 Violence in the Boxing Ring
27. Nora's Nightmare

Topic 10 Soul Soup
28 Information, Please
29 A Sandpiper to Bring You Joy
30 The Happiest Day of My Life

Topic 11 Animals
31 How Do Animals Spend the Winter
32 On the Move
33 Odd Couples

Topic 12 Festivals
34. Christmas
35. New Year Traditions
36 Thanksgiving Day, April Fool's Day, and Halloween.

Keys to Exercises

4. Language First
If you've left your country to come to school in the United States, particularly if you have come here to attend college, you were probably confronted with a shocking realization: The English courses you took back home did not prepare you for the writing (and perhaps reading) assigned to you at college here. After taking a timed placement exam, you may have found
yourself in a special writing course for students whose first language isn't English. Or you may have ended up in a freshman writing course with peers who are all native English speakers but who can't write in English as well as you can write in your first language.
There are many foreign students in similar predicaments across the country. Researchers estimate that by the year 2000, ESL (English as a Second Language) students will make up more than 25% of the college student population; colleges in some large cities have already reached this percentage. Teacher education programs are beginning to realize the importance of understanding how to address the needs of students like you, and special ESL courses are being developed to meet these needs.
But this is small consolation to you, as you try to understand just what it is that you're doing wrong when you write. Some of your teachers will correct all your grammatical errors before returning a paper to you; others will fill the margins with question marks implying your language was too confusing for them to understand at all; still others will just write a note at the top of the first page: "See me after class. You need help!"
Try not to be discouraged by the responses you get from your teachers (and from your peers). Read between the lines to get to the basic message, which is: You're intelligent, you just need to learn more English so that your readers can understand what you're trying to say.
Actually, you may need to learn more than just the language to be an effective writer. The writing style you developed in your first language may not be appropriate for college writing in the U.S., so you may have to adjust it to satisfy your readers. (For example, French speakers generally have a more formal, flowery style than American readers are used to.) The range of approved topics may be broader in the U.S., so you may have to be open to new possibilities. Even minor things like sentence length could be affecting how your readers evaluate your writing. Spanish speakers, for example, typically write long sentences that American readers lose patience with.