本书收录近年SSAT的回忆版真题，依照阅读的实际考查方向，分为16个专题，分别是：世界历史，美国历史、政治和文化，女性，艺术，人文，健康与医学，世界文学，诗歌，文学评论，传记，音乐，科学与自然，大众文化，运动与休闲，社会与心理，选项的奥秘。这种细致的分类，可以更好地帮助考生理解阅读文章，开阔眼界，陶冶情操，提升文化修养。另外，在每个专题下配以阅读练习和与真题难度想当的经典阅读文章，并附有参考答案（电子版）。

通过阅读本书，考生们在提升语言技能的同时，也可以学到历史上的一些思想和哲理精华。掌握一门语言，并不仅仅是张口蹦出几句流行语，或是见了外国人寒暄几句就可以了。一门语言象征着一个民族，也代表着这个民族看待与诠释世界的方式。毫无疑问，学习英语的真正目的是发掘与之相关的民族的历史文化。

Chapter 1 World History

History and Life

Feudalism of Japan

Buddhist Sculpture

Dead Sea Scroll

Generation

The Black Death

Boudicca

King Richard Ⅲ

Carthage

Papyrus

Chickasaw Tribe

Hiawatha: Synergic Pioneer

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

The Czar

Spain and England

Sixteenth Century Expedition

The Trojan War

The Athens

Arapaho

Blackfoot

Cherokee

Cheyenne

Shawnee

The Curse of King Tut

Coins

Chapter 2 U.S. History, Politics, and Culture

The Salem Witch Trials

Abraham Lincoln

Emancipation Proclamation

The Supreme Court’s Power of Judicial Review

Tea

California Gold Rush

To Be an American

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass 

Ellis Island

EPA

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

The Homestead Act of 1862

Racial Discrimination and Segregation

Great Depression

Expedition of Lewis and Clark

Thomas Jefferson

The Pony Express

English Sympathy

The Statue of Liberty

Chapter 3 Women

Women in Colony

Marie Antoinette

Ruler Hatshepsut

The Abortion Debate

Chapter 4 Art

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Dance Theater of Harlem

New York City’s Central Park

The Louvre

Chapter 5 Humanities

An Extinct Language

Arabic

The Master

American Sign Language

Aristotle’s Ethical Theory

Islam

Hinduism

Buddhism

The Myths Ⅰ

The Myths Ⅱ

Chapter 6 Health and Medicine

Caffeine and Youngsters

Sleep Deprivation

Physical Activity Level of American Adolescents

Herbs

Chapter 7 World Literature

Dracula Ⅰ

Dracula Ⅱ

Around the World in 80 Days

2889

Polly Helps a Friend

Mr. Harding

Wonderful Spring

A painful Case

Affidavit of Emily Ryerson

The World of Cheese

Land of the Cyclopes

Mr. Holter

The House on Mango Street

Lying in Bed

Of Cleverness

The Tomb of Keats

The Importance of Being Earnest

Anne of Green Gables

Chapter 8 Poems

A Type of Human Life

The Fly

Early Affection

Trees Need Not Walk the Earth

Fair Enough

Ode to the Cuckoo

Charity

Migration of the Raptors

Identity

The Furthest Distance in the World

As I Awake

Apologia

Auto Wreck

Chapter 9 Literary Criticism

Homer Epic

Boy at the Window Review

Virginia Woolf

A Thousand Splendid Suns Review

Background of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Creation

Wuthering Heights Review

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Review

Macbeth Review

Raisin in the Sun

Frankenstein vs. Wuthering Heights

Chapter 10 Biography

Captain James Cook

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Lyman Frank Baum: Creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Barbara Jordan

A Speech Delivered by Barbara Jordan

Catharine Esther Beecher

Carlo Collodi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Afred Hitchcock

Florence Nightingale

Abraham “Bram” Stoker Ⅰ

Abraham “Bram” Stoker Ⅱ

Harriet Tubman

Howard Pillips Lovecraft

Sax Rohmer

The True Story of My Life

Up from Slavery: An Autobiography

Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography

Marie Curie

Claude Mckay

Dr. Charles Richard Drew

Chapter 11 Music

African Music

Boxwood

Andre Watts

Jazz

Blues

Chapter 12 Science and Nature

Scientific Attitude

Kangaroo Rats

Partnership in the Sea

English Bull Terrier

Explosion of Stars

The Fish of the Deep Sea

Hydrogen

Global Warming

Elephants

Moths

White Dwarf

An Odd Fact

Birds’ Travel

Continental Drift

The Sun

The Moon

The Barrier Islands

Koala

Oxpecker and Rhino

Volcano

Cells and Temperature

Manatees and Dugongs

Wolverine

Spider

Chapter 13 Popular Culture

Business and Consumers

Paperweight Collection

Compact Discs

Modeling Industry

Computer Museum of America

The Origin of Papers

Chapter 14 Sports and Leisure

Modern Camping

Emily Carr’s Trip in 1933

Chapter 15 Society and Psychology

Human Brain

School Bullying

Need to Be With

Jaws of Anxiety

Chapter 16 Choices

Passage 1

Passage 2

Passage 3

Passage 4

Passage 5

Passage 6