Graduate English Reading Course. Advanced Level (Advanced Level)

Author: Li Guangli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: The authors of this book are all organizers and participants of the Beijing Graduate English Teaching and Research Association. They have extensive experience in teaching and testing English for graduate students. They come from institutions such as the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Renmin University of China, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beihang University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing University of Technology, and Capital Normal University. This textbook was fully supported by the Beijing Graduate English Teaching and Research Association during its writing and publication. In particular, the team at China Renmin University Press contributed significantly to the planning and publication of this book. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to them. Due to the limited time and the authors' limitations, it is inevitable that this textbook contains shortcomings and errors. We sincerely invite teachers, students, and other readers who use this textbook to point out any issues.
Proficient Reading, part of the New Series of Graduate English Textbooks/Graduate English Reading Course (Proficient Level), is a reading textbook for graduate students organized by the Beijing Graduate English Teaching and Research Association. It is suitable for non-English major master's students and some doctoral students in universities and colleges across various disciplines, including humanities, sciences, engineering, medicine, agriculture, and forestry.
The Graduate English Reading Course is divided into two volumes. The first volume is Progressive Reading, and the second volume is Proficient Reading. The guiding philosophy behind the writing of Proficient Reading is to enable graduate students to master reading skills for various common genres through teaching and practical application, thereby developing a solid and proficient English reading ability to support their studies and research in their fields using English as a tool.
Proficient Reading consists of six units, with three lessons per unit, totaling 18 lessons. The genres for each unit are as follows:
Unit 1: News Reading
Unit 2: Biography Reading
Unit 3: Miscellaneous Reading (Narrative and Descriptive Texts)
Unit 4: Miscellaneous Reading (Expository and Argumentative Texts)
Unit 5: Science and Popular Science Article Reading
Unit 6: Fiction Reading
Each unit first introduces in detail the reading techniques for the genre of articles in that unit. After each lesson, there are extensive exercises related to reading techniques and the text, as well as new vocabulary, annotations, author and article background introductions.
Proficient Reading is designed for master's students and some doctoral students with a certain foundation from universities and colleges across the country, as well as for self-study by English learners of similar proficiency levels.
The main features of Proficient Reading are as follows:
1. The textbook focuses on reading skills by genre. At the beginning of each lesson, it systematically introduces reading techniques for various genres.
2. The textbook emphasizes the training of graduate students' reading skills. In addition to introducing techniques, each lesson includes a large number of exercises, including Reading Comprehension A and B (Reading Comprehension A is multiple-choice, and Reading Comprehension B focuses on the structure and logic of the text), Vocabulary Exercises A and B (Vocabulary Exercise A includes vocabulary and phrases students need to recognize, and Vocabulary Exercise B includes vocabulary and phrases students need to master), cloze exercises, translation exercises, and questions and discussions (covering topics familiar and interesting to students, both from the book and beyond). These exercises are designed to help students apply the reading techniques learned in each lesson, enabling them to truly master and use them.
3. The textbook is highly operational. With a focus on explaining reading techniques, each lesson includes texts and a large number of exercises, giving teachers flexibility in selecting teaching priorities, whether it be reading techniques, texts, exercises, or discussions. The Teacher's Manual provides teachers with extensive background information on authors and articles, explanations of language points, translations of difficult sentences in the text, and answers to exercises, allowing teachers to organize classroom teaching flexibly.
4. The textbook is highly readable. The selected reading materials are linguistically pure and standardized, with most texts drawn from renowned works by authors from English-speaking countries like the UK and the US, and most of them are newly published. The articles are diverse in content and subject matter, such as topics on the scientist John Nash and the football star David Beckham.
5. The textbook reflects the authenticity of English reading. The selected reading materials are in original English. To allow students to read authentic, unadulterated English articles, the glossary and annotations are placed at the end of each lesson.
6. The textbook is closely aligned with the annual graduate English degree course exams organized by the Beijing Graduate English Teaching and Research Association, held in January and June. The reading and vocabulary exercises at the end of each lesson are designed to match the format of the exam questions, making them useful for preparation.
7. The textbook and the glossary are accompanied by audio recordings.