本教材编写中把以英国历史文化发展为线索，展现英国各段历史进程中的国家概况，既训练语言技能，也丰富相关知识。涉及了系统的历史内容,帮助读者了解英国各段历史时期的重大事件，系统介绍英国历史文化发展背景。
本次改版对难度有所调整，并增加教师资源包，以适应不同层次学生的需要。根据阅读材料的时效性进行增删。改版中增加“互联网+”因素， 通过二维码呈现网络资源，增强文化类教材的特色。
本套教材是国家哲学社会科学项目成果，获得第六届教学成果优秀成果奖、辽宁省两级教学成果一等奖。
常俊跃，大连外国语大学英语学院院长。主持并完成国家哲学社会科学项目“英语专业基础阶段内容依托式教学改革研究”，主持并正在进行国家社会科学基金项目立项“内容依托教学理论指导下英语专业整体课程体系的改革与实践研究”。 负责的专业2010年获国家特色专业建设点。
Unit 1 The Birth of a Nation /
Text A The Ancient Britons and Invasions /
Text B Anglo-Saxon England /
Text C King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table /
Text D The Venerable Bede (673—735) /
Unit 2 The Normans /
Text A The Norman Monarchs /
Text B Feudalism after the Norman Conquest /
Text C The Doomsday Book /
Unit 3 The Early Plantagenet /
Text A The Rule of Law /
Text B The Canterbury Tales /
Text C The Crusades /
Unit 4 The House of Plantagenet /
Text A The Birth of Parliament /
Text B The Magna Carta /
Text C King John /
Unit 5 The 14thcentury England /
Text A The Hundred Years’ War /
Text B The Black Death and Wat Tyler Uprising /
Text C Wat Tyler and His Revolting Peasants /
Text D Joan of Arc—Maid of Orleans /
Unit 6 The House of Lancaster and York /
Text A The Wars of the Roses /
Text B The Mystery of the Princes in the Tower /
Text C The Middle Ages /
Unit 7 The Tudor Age /
Text A The Tudor Monarchy /
Text B The Reformation in England (1517—1563) /
Text C King Henry VII /
Text D Henry VIII and His Marriage /
Unit 8 The Elizabethan Age /
Text A The Reign of Elizabeth I /
Text B Queen Elizabeth I /
Text C Entertainment in Elizabethan Age /
Text D Defeat of the Spanish Armada /
Unit 9 The House of Stuart /
Text A The Age of Revolution /
Text B King James VI and I /
Text C The English Civil War /
Unit 10 The House of Hanover /
Text A Hanoverian Monarchs /
Text B Napoleon Bonaparte (1769—1821) /
Text C King George III /
Unit 11 The Industrial Revolution /
Text A The British Industrial Revolution /
Text B Machines for the Industrial Revolution /
Text C The Consequences of the Industrial Revolution /
Unit 12 The Victorian Age (1837—1901) /
Text A Queen Victoria and Her Reign /
Text B Everyday Life in Victorian England /
Text C Charles Dickens (1812—1870) /
Unit 13 The World at War /
Text A The Great Britain in the World Wars /
Text B Causes of World War I /
Text C Winston Churchill /
Unit 14 Towards the New Millennium /
Text A House of Windsor /
Text B Live the Queen! /
Text C Margaret Thatcher /
Unit 15 Wales, Scotland and Ireland /
Text A The English Conquest of Wales /
Text B The Story of Scotland /
Text C The Ties between Ireland and the Great Britain /
Appendixes/
Appendix 1: Kings and Queens of England and Britain /
Appendix 2: Genealogy of the Monarchs of England /
主要参考文献和网站/
新书资讯