Freshman Readings in English was originally the English textbook for first-year students in the National Southwest Associated University (1937-1946), edited by Chen Futian, then head of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. This English course was compulsory for all first-year students at the university, which means this book was also studied by all students of the National Southwest Associated University during its eight years of operation. The book is a collection of forty-three excellent essays in the humanities and social sciences, all from famous writers, such as Pearl S. Buck, William Somerset Maugham, Lin Yutang, Hu Shih, Charles Lamb, Henry David Thoreau, and Edgar Allan Poe. The book contains diverse genres of classic essays spanning multiple disciplines and levels, which reflect the educational philosophy of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature of the university: liberal education as a foundation and cultivating well-rounded scholars. After eighty years, this philosophy is still of great significance to today's foreign language teaching. The original book was entirely in English. Renowned English professors from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nankai University, Beijing Foreign Studies University and so on were invited to translate the English text, which was then compiled into an English-Chinese bilingual textbook designed for convenient reading and self-study. This special edition features professional American voice actors narrating the texts with moderate speed and authentic pronunciation, making it ideal for listening practice and shadowing exercises.