High School English Reading Course: Grade 11 Edition

Author: Qi Zhixiao and Li Desheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: April 1, 2005
Features: This book is a newly developed reference material based on the English teaching syllabus for senior high school students. Its purpose is to strengthen the reading comprehension skills of senior high school students through exercises. The book is divided into three volumes and two main parts, featuring 184 representative short passages. These passages include familiar fables and fairy tales as well as classic works by renowned authors. The language is engaging and educationally meaningful. Each unit also includes corresponding exercises for targeted practice, with answers provided.
With the continuous reform of the college entrance examination (Gaokao) content, English assessments have gradually shifted from grammar-based evaluation to a comprehensive assessment of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, with reading comprehension being a particular focus. The "General High School English Curriculum Standards" require students to accumulate over 300,000 words of extracurricular reading by the eighth grade level. To align with the "Syllabus" requirements and adapt to the "New Curriculum Standards," our school has been conducting systematic reading teaching experiments since 1996. We offer regular reading classes weekly and encourage extracurricular reading, resulting in impressive Gaokao performance. Other schools have come to us to "learn the secrets" of our success. The textbook we used was the precursor to High School English Reading Course.
After years of continuous improvement, supported by Beijing Caihua Education Group and China Social Sciences Press, the course was published. The total vocabulary for Reading Text A is approximately 3,000 words, covering most of the vocabulary required by the seventh-grade level of the "General High School English Curriculum Standards." Reading Text B includes most of the target vocabulary for the eighth-grade level. The total reading volume of this course is about 300,000 words, which can largely meet the eighth-grade level requirements of the "General High School English Curriculum Standards."
Course Structure
This course is divided into three volumes, with this being the second volume, containing 30 units, split into two parts (upper and lower) for use in the second year of senior high school. The course is arranged in increasing difficulty, making it compatible with current high school English textbooks while also serving as a standalone resource. It is suitable for classroom instruction and independent extracurricular reading. The back of the book includes explanations for difficult sentences and answers to exercises.
Content Introduction
Each unit in this volume is divided into Reading Text A and Reading Text B. Reading Text A is slightly easier than the corresponding textbook, with each passage accompanied by a vocabulary list and an Introduction designed to pose questions and spark students' interest in predicting the passage's content. After each passage, there is a numerical statistics section that allows students to calculate their reading speed based on reading time. Additionally, each passage includes several exercises to assess comprehension.
Reading Text B passages are mostly close to the original text, with minor revisions to some obscure words or sentences that may be difficult for students to understand. The purpose is to expose students to authentic English. The content covers British and American society, culture, life, and technology, aiming to broaden students' horizons and provide them with more information. Some passages are exquisite essays by foreign authors, designed to connect English learning with other subjects, life, society, and the times, encouraging students to pay attention to others, society, and the world during their learning process. The back of the book includes detailed answers to exercises and annotations for difficult sentences.