外交学院英语教学专家编写。
高等院校本科英语教育核心课程教材，北京市高等教育精品教材立项项目，北京市精品课程英语泛读教学用书。
选材语言地道，内容新颖，题材广泛，贴近生活，时代气息浓郁，可读性强。
根据不同主题设置不同单元，知识内容自成体系。
练习设计合理、实用，紧扣课文内容，针对性强，形式灵活。
难易程度恰当，有助于扩大国际视野，以适应日益增长的外交与对外文化交流的需要。
北京大学出版社自2005年以来已出版《语言与应用语言学知识系列读本》多种，为了配合第十一个五年计划，现又策划陆续出版《21世纪英语专业系列教材》。这个重大举措势必受到英语专业广大教师和学生的欢迎。
作为英语教师，最让人揪心的莫过于听人说英语不是一个专业，只是一个工具。说这些话的领导和教师的用心是好的.为英语专业的毕业生将来找工作着想，因此要为英语专业的学生多多开设诸如新闻、法律、国际商务、经济、旅游等其他专业的课程。但事与愿违，英语专业的教师们很快发现，学生投入英语学习的时间少了，掌握英语专业课程知识甚微，即使对四个技能的掌握也并不比大学英语学生高明多少，而那个所谓的第二专业在有关专家的眼中只是学到些皮毛而已。
英语专业的路在何方？有没有其他路可走？这是需要我们英语专业教师思索的问题。中央领导关于创新是一个民族的灵魂和要培养创新人才等的指示精神，让我们在层层迷雾中找到了航向。显然，培养学生具有自主学习能力和能进行创造性思维是我们更为重要的战略目标，使英语专业的人才更能适应21世纪的需要.迎接21世纪的挑战。
如今，北京大学出版社外语部的领导和编辑同志们，也从教材出版的视角探索英语专业的教材问题.从而为贯彻英语专业教学大纲做些有益的工作，为教师们开设大纲中所规定的必修、选修课程提供各种教材。《21世纪英语专业系列教材》是普通高等教育“十一五”国家级规划教材和国家“十一五”重点出版规划项目《面向新世纪的立体化网络化英语学科建设丛书》的重要组成部分。这套系列教材要体现新世纪英语教学的自主化、协作化、模块化和超文本化，结合外语教材的具体情况，既要解决语言、教学内容、教学方法和教育技术的时代化.也要坚持弘扬以爱国主义为核心的民族精神。因此，今天北京大学出版社在大力提倡专业英语教学改革的基础上，编辑出版各种英语专业技能、英语专业知识和相关专业知识课程的教材，以培养具有创新性思维的和具有实际工作能力的学生，充分体现了时代精神。
UNIT ONE HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE
Text A Children in the Balance
Text B Chubby Gets a Second Look
Text C The Diagnosis for Health Care
UNIT TWO PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENT
Text A Global Warming： Struggling to Save the Planet
Text B Chemical Generation
Text C Brazil， Alarmed， Reconsiders Policy on Climate Change
UNIT THREE AGRICULTURE VS URBANIZATION
Text A Life on the Land
Text B Urbanisation in China： Chinas Chicago
Text C Kenyan Farmers Fate Caught Up in US Aid Rules
UNIT FOUR US DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Text A IF Bush Ruled the World
Text B Sino-US Relations： The Economic Aspect
Text C All in the Families
UNIT FIVE THE CHANGING ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Text A Double Trouble Speak
Text B The World is Englishing
Text C Bible and the English Language
UNIT SIX THE WAY BUSINESS OPERA TES
Text A Young Entrepreneurs Have the Edge
Text B Its Whats on the Outside that Counts
Text C If You Whistle a Happy Tune， Dont Call it a Jingle
UNIT SEVEN LIFE GOES ON
Text A Why Montana Is Turning Blue
Text B The Art of Unhappiness
Text C Holding the Mirror Up to Vanity
UNIT EIGHT CHINA AND THE OLYMPICS
Text A Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony Blends Technology and Tradition
Text B Ex-Chinese Star Guides US to Win in Volleyball
Text C Reviving the Olympic Spirit 75 Years Later
GLOSSARY
16 The latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,issued in April, has added to concerns here. "By mid-century, increases in temperature and associated decreases in soil water are projected to lead to gradual replacement of tropical forest by savanna in eastern Amazonia," it predicted, while also warning that "crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increases" in tropical areas, "which would increase risk of hunger."17 Among climatologists who study the Amazon, the buzz words these days are "tipping point"——-the moment at which damage to the environment is so severe and widespread that it pushes the ecosystem into an irreversible cycle of self-destruction.18 Scientists disagree how close the Amazon is to such an event. Some warn that it is just a few years away, while others argue that the margin of safety is decades. But almost all agree that the danger exists.19 "Obviously the uncertainty range is huge, but the momentum is pushing us in that direction, and the fact that it is close is important, because the process is like steering a big ship," said Philip Fearnside, a researcher here at the National Institute for Amazon Research."People on the Titanic saw the iceberg, but they couldnt turn in time."20 In the debate over how to reduce carbon emissions and postpone or avoid such a tipping point, one area of disagreement between Brazil and the international community has been the issue of compensation for what is known as "avoided deforestation." This approach sets a monetary value for greenhouse gas emissions and pays farmers and indigenous people not to raze the forest.
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