1.Of Studies&FRANCIS BACON 1
2.A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country&JONATHAN SWIFT 6
3.Sunday in the Country&JOSEPH ADDISON 20
4.Letter to Lord Chesterfield&SAMUEL JOHNSON 26
5.On National Prejudices&OLIVER GOLDSMITH 31
6.A Shooter&WILLIAM COBBETT 37
7.The Convalescent&CHARLES LAMB 42
8.On Familiar Style&WILLIAM HAZLITT 50
9.On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth&THOMAS DE QUINCEY 62
10.The Woods and the Pacific&ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 70
11.How Wealth Accumulates and Men Decay&GEORGE BERNARD SHAW 75
12.Universities and Their Function（excerpt）&ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD 82
13.The Town Week&EDWARD VERRALL LUCAS 88
14.The Crooked Streets&HILAIRE BELLOC 94
15.Seeing People Off&MAX BEERBOHM 102
16.What I Have Lived For&BERTRAND RUSSELL 110
17."I Have Nothing to offer but Blood,Toil,Tears and Sweat"&WINSTON CHURCHILL 114
18.A Defence of Detective Stories&GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON 119
19.Lucidity,Simplicity,Euphony&WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM 125
20.The Vice of Punctuality&ROBERT LYND 137
21.People&EDWARD MORGAN FORSTER 144
22.The Death of the Moth&VIRGINIA WOOLF 156
23.Golden Fruit&ALAN ALEXANDER MILNE 162
24.Punishment Never Cures Anything&ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND NEILL 168
25.Whistling of Birds&D.H.LAWRENCE 179
26.The Beauty Industry&ALDOUS HUXLEY 186
27.The Ironic Principle&JOHN BOYNTON PRIESTLEY 194
28.Some Thoughts on the Common Toad&GEORGE ORWELL 198
29.Work,Labor,and Play&WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN 205
30.Appetite&LAURIE LEE 209
31.Memories of Christmas&DYLAN THOMAS 214
32.We'll Never Conquer Space&ARTHUR C.CLARKE 224
33.My Father&DORIS LESSING 235
34.A Passion for Cities&JAN MORRIS 248
35.Journey Through a Tunnel&DAVID STOREY 253
36.I Am in Blood Stepp'd in So Far&MARTIN AMIS 264