美国著名的语言习得专家Stephen Krashen在他的可理解性输入假设中特别强调足够的、可理解的输入（ Comprehensible Input）是成功语言习得的前提和保证。同时，要让学习者能够自觉地、自由地阅读——自愿、愉快地接触、接收这些可理解性的输入，输入的内容——阅读材料，应该具有适当的挑战性，且能够与学习者的生活阅历、知识结构和认知能力保持和谐的统一。以上正是《研究生名师名课名作丛书：研究生英语综合教程》主要的编写理念。教材的主题如：如何对待失败和培养对社会的责任感（J．K．Rowling的演讲）；保持好奇心、实现充实的人生（Steve Jobs的演讲）；如何成功地处理好人际关系（Dale Carnegie关于批评和感恩）；人生的经历对一个人的影响（Gordon Mac Donald对Steve Jobs的成长经历及其性格的形成）等，每一个主题都可以引发学习者深刻的反思、中西文化的对比，促进批判性思维的培养。同时，《研究生名师名课名作丛书：研究生英语综合教程》希望通过每一篇短文的阅读和学习，将学习者的兴趣引向更多的英文原版著作和学习资源，培养终身学习、阅读的习惯，才是学习者提高和保持较高英语水平的有效途径。In the first thirty years of life，you make habits．and in the next thirty years of life， habits make you.（Hindus proverb）。
《研究生名师名课名作丛书：研究生英语综合教程》是在教学实践中为非英语专业研究生编写的，同样适应于具有相应的英语水平、生活阅历的大学本科生或英语爱好者使用。
《非英语专业硕士／博士学位研究生英语教学基本要求（试行）》大纲规定，“硕士研究生英语教学以培养学生的英语综合应用能力为目标，使他们在今后的工作中能有效地以英语为工具进行本专业的研究和学术交流”，提出了“确保语言基本功训练，但以培养学生语言交际能力为主要目标”的要求。
为了确保学生得到语言基本功的训练，本教材以课内阅读材料为导线，引导学生进行大量的阅读输入，同时，为了确保学生接触到原汁原味的语言素材，未对原文做任何的删减，这也是各个单元的文章长度有些不一致的原因之一。每个单元后都向学生提供了与主题相关的原著阅读或者相关的课外学习资源。根据Krashen的可理解输入（comprehensible input）理论，如果能让语言学习者沉浸在可理解的语言素材中，他们的语言能力将会在不知不觉中得到提升。因此，大量的语言输入为语言基本功的训练和语言能力的提升提供了保障。
让学习者能够沉浸在可理解输入的另外一个条件是，文本的内容能够融入学习者的图式（schema），激发他们进行阅读和思考的兴趣。本教材十个单元的主题涵盖了：如何面对失败和挫折（J.K. Rowling和Steve Jobs的演讲）、如何处理好人际关系（Dale Carnegie的人性的弱点关于批评和感恩的节选）、领导力（Gordon MacDonald对Jobs领导力的分析）、宗教与文化差异（如法国政府禁止伊斯兰妇女戴头巾、中西家庭教育的差异）、美国就业状况（金融危机中年轻一代艰难的就业状况）、金融革新的得与失（The New Yorker中对现代金融革新举措的分析）、人生态度（通过对林语堂先生的生平简介来说明）。考虑到非英语专业的研究生不同的专业背景，教材的选题在比较通识（general）的前提下，确保具有一定的深度，并就同一个问题能够提供不同视角的观点，以促进学习者批判性思维的培养。
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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