作者: (美國) 威廉•H•麥加菲

威廉•H•麥加菲，美國著名教育傢。1800年齣生於賓夕法尼亞州，1826年畢業於華盛頓大學傑斐遜學院。在數十年教育生涯中，他曾擔任過邁阿密大學語言學教授，俄亥俄大學校長。自1845年開始任弗吉尼亞大學道德哲學教授。他還幫助組建瞭俄亥俄州公立學校體係。

早在19世紀初期，麥加菲就意識到，應該給那些孤獨的墾荒者和歐洲移民的後代提供普遍的教育，於是他利用自己作為演講傢與教育工作者的天賦，開始為孩子們編寫係列教材。這套教材共7冊，從學齡前至第6年級。他前後花費瞭20多年的時間纔完成全套教材的編寫。這套教材麵世後就被美國很多學校選為課本。在75年間銷量高達1.22億，直到今天仍以各種版本流行於西方，被美國《齣版周刊》評為“人類齣版史上第三大暢銷書”，對美國青年的心靈塑造與道德培養産生瞭史無前例的影響。

William Holmes McGuffey (September 23, 1800 – May 4, 1873) was an American professor and college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, one of the nation's first and most widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary.

He was born the son of Alexander and Anna (Holmes) McGuffey near Claysville in Washington County, Pennsylvania, which is 45 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. In 1802 the McGuffey family moved further out into the frontier at Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He attended country school, and after receiving special instruction at Youngstown, he attended Greersburg Academy in Darlington, Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he attended and graduated from Pennsylvania's Washington College, where he became an instructor.

He was close friends with Washington College's President Andrew Wylie and lived in Wylie's house for a time; they often would walk the 3 miles to Washington College together.

McGuffey's house in OxfordMcGuffey left Washington College in 1826 to become a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. A year later in 1827, he was married to Harriet Spinning of Dayton, Ohio, with whom he had five children. In 1829, he was ordained at Bethel Chapel as a minister in the Presbyterian Church. It was in Oxford that he created the most important contribution of his life: The McGuffey Readers. His books sold over 122 million copies. He was very fond of teaching and children as he geared the books toward a younger audience.

In 1836, he left Miami to become president of Cincinnati College, where he also served as a distinguished teacher and lecturer. He left Cincinnati in 1839 to become the 4th president of Ohio University, which he left in 1843 to become president of Woodward College (really a secondary school) in Cincinnati.

In 1845, McGuffey moved to Charlottesville, Virginia where he became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. A year after his first wife Harriet died in 1850, he married Miss Laura Howard, daughter of Dean Howard of the University of Virginia, in 1851. McGuffey is buried in the university burial ground, in Charlottesville, Virginia. The School of Education at Miami University is housed in McGuffey Hall which is named for him and his home in Oxford is a National Historic Landmark offering tours on weekdays.

《美國語文讀本2(美國原版經典語文課本)》：這套讀本的英文原版共分七級，包括啓濛讀本和第1-6級。考慮到啓濛讀本與第一級篇幅都較少，難易程度也很接近，於是將之閤並為第1冊，其餘2-6級與英文原版相同。這樣國內齣版的這套讀本共包括6冊。

從《美國語文讀本2(美國原版經典語文課本)》開始，均是比較正式的課文，概述瞭曆史、生物、天文、動物學、植物學、餐桌禮儀、行為舉止、對神和老師的態度等。每一課包括詞匯和課文，並且對一些生詞的英文做齣瞭解釋，讓學生學會通過簡單英文理解生詞，養成用英語理解和思維的習慣。

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.

The second reader appeared simultaneously with the first and followed the same pattern. It contained reading and spelling with eighty-five lessons, sixteen pictures and one-hundred sixty-six pages. It outlined history, biology, astronomy, zoology, botany; table manners, behavior towards family, attitudes toward God and teachers, the poor; the great and the good. The duties of youth are stressed. Millions of pioneer men and women were alumni of this second reader college, they were able to read and write English.