美国哲学家和作家乔治·桑塔亚那(George Santayana，1863～1952)有一句名言论及教育的本质性特征：“教育中真正的困难是从概念中获得体验。”对于英语学习者、特别是尚且处于初级和中级学习阶段的人来说，乔治·桑塔亚那的观点应当说也是恰如其分。许多人学习英语数年如一日，坚持不懈，但往往还是摆脱不了纸上谈兵的窘境，很难在工作与个人生活中得心应手地使用英语与人交流与沟通。究其原因，一个常见的问题就是自觉与不自觉地将学习定位于获得英语语言中高度系统化的概念，例如词汇及其定义、句法以及修辞法等等，一味培养理解与鉴赏英语的能力，犹如欣赏一副名画或者一首名曲，而在学习过程中缺少互动性的体验，忽视了培养个人实际应用英语的能力与技巧。
本书是一部关于英语会话学习的实用教材，全书从简单而最为常见的社交活动开始，逐渐加大难度和范围，涉及如何待人接物，如何与人沟通和商谈，以及如何按照规范的礼仪处理迎来送往等事宜。本书适合英语学习者参考学习。

作者简介：Betty Kirkpatrick,a graduate of Edinburht University,has had a long and distinguished career as editor,publisher and writer of Englisth reference books.She Was the editor of the Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary and the Editor of Roget's Thesaurus.She now wites mainly for Learners Publishing.

Introduction
UNIT 1 How are you? (Greetings)
UNIT 2 See you later! (Saying goodbye)
UNIT 3 Hello, I am... (Introductions)
UNIT 4 Would you like to...? (Invitations)
UNIT 5 Thanks a million (Thanks)
UNIT 6 May I...? (Permission)
UNIT 7 My apologies (Apologizing)
UNIT 8 What' s the problem? (Asking what is wrong)
UNIT 9 You have my sympathy(Sympathy and condolences)
UNIT 10 Good luck! (Wishing someone well)
UNIT 11 Congratulations!(Congratulations)
UNIT 12 You look lovely!(Compliments)
UNIT 13 I think you should…(Giving advice)
UNIT 14 Why don't you…?(Suggestions)
UNIT 15 Can I help?(Offering help)
UNIT 16 Hold on,please(Telephoning)
Tests
Answers