《美国语文(英汉双语全译版)(套装共6册)》从19世纪中期至20世纪中叶,一直被广泛用作美国学校的语文教材,据称有10000多所美国学校拿它当作教材。到了21世纪,西方一些私立学校（Private School)和家庭学校（Homeschool）仍用它作为教材,足见这套书的价值与影响力。据估计,这套书从问世至1960年,至少发行了1.22亿册；1961年后,在西方每年销量仍达30000册以上。应该说,没有哪一套个人主编的教材能超过此发行量了！此套读本的英文原版共分七级,包括启蒙读本和第1-6级。考虑到启蒙读本与第一级篇幅都较少,难易程度也很接近,于是我们将之合并为第1册,其余2-6级与英文原版相同。这样国内出版的这套读本共包括6册。第1册从字母表开始,主要侧重于字母的发音与书写、简单的单词与句型,同时强调英文书写,课文后面附有不少书法练习,让孩子们不仅将英语说得像外国人,而且写得也跟外文书法一样,这是国内英语教学所缺少的一个环节。从第2册开始,均是比较正式的课文,每一课包括词汇和课文,对一些生词有英文解释,让学生学会通过简单英文理解生词,养成用英语理解和思维的习惯。第5册和第6册的课文前增加了作者简介与相关背景知识,内容丰富而有一定深度。此套书为在原版本基础上重新修订精装版,后两册字号较之前有所放大,并且修正了原有的错误之处,以方便学生阅读。

This series of schoolbooks teaching reading and moral precepts, originally prepared by William Holmes who was a professor at Miami University McGuffey, had a profound influence on public education in the United States. The eclectic readers, meaning that the selections were chosen from a number of sources, were considered remarkably literary works and probably exerted a greater influence upon literary tastes in the United States more than any other book, excluding the Bible.

It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to that mark. McGuffey's Readers are still in use today in some school systems, and by parents for home schooling purposes.

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