《英美散文選讀》第一冊中的選篇涵蓋了教育、美國社會與歷史、環保與可持續發展、閱讀與寫作、人生百態等題目，比較偏重對語言基礎的培養和基本閱讀、寫作技能的訓練。每篇課文后“Understanding the writer's techniques”部分就有意識地使學生把注意力從對簡單的背單詞和句子分析理解轉移到作者的謀篇布局和寫作手法等更高的技術層面上來。由于這種類型的問題主觀性較強，讀者見仁見智，難以有統一答案，所以留給任課教師更大的自由去判斷，也留給學生自主探索的余地。
Unit One Education and Discipline
Unit Two The Marks of an Educated Man
Unit Three In Defense of Elitism
Unit Four Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts
Unit Five Some American Types
Unit Six Boredom:The Most Prevalent American Disease
Unit Seven Simplicity
Unit Eight The Future of Reading
Unit Nine Utopian Techniques
Unit Ten My Wood
Unit Eleven Selected Snobberies
Unit Twelve What to Li'n for in Music
Unit Thirteen The Epoch of the Secular City
Unit Fourteen How Much Is "Enough"?
Unit Fifteen Beauty
Unit Sixteen On Genius and Originality