美國著名的語言習得專家Stephen Krashen在他的可理解性輸入假設中特別強調足夠的、可理解的輸入（ Comprehensible Input）是成功語言習得的前提和保證。同時，要讓學習者能夠自覺地、自由地閱讀——自愿、愉快地接觸、接收這些可理解性的輸入，輸入的內容——閱讀材料，應該具有適當的挑戰(zhàn)性，且能夠與學習者的生活閱歷、知識結構和認知能力保持和諧的統一。以上正是《研究生名師名課名作叢書：研究生英語綜合教程》主要的編寫理念。教材的主題如：如何對待失敗和培養(yǎng)對社會的責任感（J．K．Rowling的演講）；保持好奇心、實現充實的人生（Steve Jobs的演講）；如何成功地處理好人際關系（Dale Carnegie關于批評和感恩）；人生的經歷對一個人的影響（Gordon Mac Donald對Steve Jobs的成長經歷及其性格的形成）等，每一個主題都可以引發(fā)學習者深刻的反思、中西文化的對比，促進批判性思維的培養(yǎng)。同時，《研究生名師名課名作叢書：研究生英語綜合教程》希望通過每一篇短文的閱讀和學習，將學習者的興趣引向更多的英文原版著作和學習資源，培養(yǎng)終身學習、閱讀的習慣，才是學習者提高和保持較高英語水平的有效途徑。In the first thirty years of life，you make habits．and in the next thirty years of life， habits make you.（Hindus proverb）。
《研究生名師名課名作叢書：研究生英語綜合教程》是在教學實踐中為非英語專業(yè)研究生編寫的，同樣適應于具有相應的英語水平、生活閱歷的大學本科生或英語愛好者使用。
《非英語專業(yè)碩士／博士學位研究生英語教學基本要求（試行）》大綱規(guī)定，“碩士研究生英語教學以培養(yǎng)學生的英語綜合應用能力為目標，使他們在今后的工作中能有效地以英語為工具進行本專業(yè)的研究和學術交流”，提出了“確保語言基本功訓練，但以培養(yǎng)學生語言交際能力為主要目標”的要求。
為了確保學生得到語言基本功的訓練，本教材以課內閱讀材料為導線，引導學生進行大量的閱讀輸入，同時，為了確保學生接觸到原汁原味的語言素材，未對原文做任何的刪減，這也是各個單元的文章長度有些不一致的原因之一。每個單元后都向學生提供了與主題相關的原著閱讀或者相關的課外學習資源。根據Krashen的可理解輸入（comprehensible input）理論，如果能讓語言學習者沉浸在可理解的語言素材中，他們的語言能力將會在不知不覺中得到提升。因此，大量的語言輸入為語言基本功的訓練和語言能力的提升提供了保障。
讓學習者能夠沉浸在可理解輸入的另外一個條件是，文本的內容能夠融入學習者的圖式（schema），激發(fā)他們進行閱讀和思考的興趣。本教材十個單元的主題涵蓋了：如何面對失敗和挫折（J.K. Rowling和Steve Jobs的演講）、如何處理好人際關系（Dale Carnegie的人性的弱點關于批評和感恩的節(jié)選）、領導力（Gordon MacDonald對Jobs領導力的分析）、宗教與文化差異（如法國政府禁止伊斯蘭婦女戴頭巾、中西家庭教育的差異）、美國就業(yè)狀況（金融危機中年輕一代艱難的就業(yè)狀況）、金融革新的得與失（The New Yorker中對現代金融革新舉措的分析）、人生態(tài)度（通過對林語堂先生的生平簡介來說明）�？紤]到非英語專業(yè)的研究生不同的專業(yè)背景，教材的選題在比較通識（general）的前提下，確保具有一定的深度，并就同一個問題能夠提供不同視角的觀點，以促進學習者批判性思維的培養(yǎng)。
Unit One
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Two
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Three
If You Want to Gather Honey, Don't Kick Over the Beehive
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Four
If You Do This, You Will Never Worry About Ingratitude
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Five
The Soul of Steve Jobs
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Six
Face Veil Ban in France
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Seven
The Discipline of a Chinese Mother
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Eight
American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Nine
The Financial Page of The New Yorker
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
Unit Ten
Life of Dr. Lin Yutang
Pre-reading Task
Exploration of the Text
Extension of the Text
1. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world， I never graduated from college. Truth be told， this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
2. The first story is about connecting the dots.
3. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months， but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? 4. It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young， unwed college graduate student， and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates， so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents， who were on a waiting list， got a call in the middle of the night asking： " We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said： " Of course. " My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
5. And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford， and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months， I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.
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