记叙文是以叙述人物的经历和事物的发展变化过程为主要表现形式的一种文体。记叙文既可以以写人为主，又可以以写事为主。写记叙文要注意记叙文的“六大要素”即：
时间（When）—— 何时发生，有没有具体时间？
地点（Where）—— 何地发生，有没有地点变化？
人物（Who）—— 何人参与，谁是主角？
事件（What）—— 发生了什么，有何特点？
原因（Why）—— 事件的起因？
结果（How）—— 事件的经过及结局？
一般说来，在一篇记叙文中这六大要素是缺一不可的。
记叙文的思路就围绕这六大要素充分展开。
「例」四级考试中，只出现过一次专门的记叙文体裁的写作，即“An Early Morning Walk”（1988.6.），2003年6月出现过包含记叙文的作文，即“An Eye-Witness Account of a Traffic Accident”。
对于“An Early Morning Walk”，知道命题要求后，我们就要开始构思了。
When：题目已规定了是“清晨”，在这个时候，“我”去散步。
Where：到哪儿散步？去公园？在校园里？在街上（街上空气不好，还是不去！）。
Who：在公园里看到晨练的人：中老年人、年轻人、小孩子；在校园里看到读书背单词的学生。
What：人们热火朝天地做操，随音乐跳舞，打球，等等。
Why：清晨空气清新，适合锻炼；一日之际在于晨，背背书，读读单词。
当然，由这个题目可以令人想到很多东西，因篇幅所限，我们做了删减。
参考范文
An Early Morning Walk
One morning I got up very early， and everything around was very quiet. The sun had just risen， shining brilliantly and everything seemed to be covered with a layer of golden silk. There were only some birds singing occasionally in the tall trees. I strolled along the street toward the park， breathing the fresh air and feeling extremely happy.
When I arrived at the park， I found， to my surprise， that there were so many people there. Men and women， boys and girls， all were enjoying themselves in their various activities. Some were doing morning exercises， some were playing badminton and some old people were having their tea while talking to each other cheerfully.
I wandered around the park. To my delight， I found a few middle-school students talking to each other in English in one corner of the park. I went up and spoke to them in English. We soon became friends. I was very glad to find another opportunity to practice my spoken English. On the way home， I realized that an early morning walk really was good and healthful. Taking early morning walks makes one healthy and wise.
「点评」文章按照时间顺序（in chronological order），第一句话点明时间（One morning）、人物（第一人称“I”），并简要描述了早晨的特点（What was the setting），接着第二段第一句话交代地点（in the park），然后介绍公园里人们及作者的活动（What was happening），最后在文章结尾点题，即，归纳中心思想——Taking early morning walks makes one healthy and wise. 仅仅189个单词既满足了记叙文的“六大要素”，又有明确的中心思想和生动的细节，行文方式符合要求。
1. 以“A Most Unlucky Day”为题，想想该怎么写。注意：题目的中心词是“unlucky”。
When：
Where：
Who：
What：
Why：
How：
参考思路
When：哪一天是最倒霉的日子？考前的晚上？公布成绩的日子？周末？
Where：在大街上违章停车？在学校？在商场？在经常光顾的地方——食堂、餐厅、麦当劳、图书馆、溜冰场、投影厅？
Who：是我倒霉？是好友？你？那个蛋白质室友？
What：拿到罚单？上课上班迟到？失恋？被窃？四级没过？
Why：倒霉嘛，无非是运气不好，睡过头了、态度恶劣、偷懒、不刻苦…
How：一团糟，挨批，心情极度沮丧，不过也无所谓嘛…
想完之后，我们再花点儿功夫将关联的东东挑出来，别忘了本文的中心是“unlucky”。
参考范文
A Most Unlucky Day
I had a streak of tough luck yesterday. Everything， it seemed to me， went wrong. And I simply couldn‘t understand why all the bad things happened to me in one single day.
In the morning， as luck would have it， my alarm clock didn‘t ring， and with an aching head I woke up half an hour later than usual. I was in such a hurry that， when making an omelet， I got my fingers burnt and splashed the omelet all over the floor of the kitchen.
Having no time for my breakfast at that point， I rushed out of my house with an empty stomach and hurting fingers. I had intended to catch the 7：30 subway， but somehow I couldn‘t make it. I became very nervous at the mere thought of being late for my English class， because my English teacher is very strict and demanding， and he gets angry whenever any student is late for his class.
After getting off the 7：40 subway， I raced all the way from the station to my school， thinking it would be impossible for me to flag a taxi at this hour of the day. At the corner of the street near my school， I abruptly bumped into a man and， worse luck， broke the glasses I had bought for 500 yuan just last week. With scarcely any time to receive or offer an apology， I just kept on running and running. At long last， I arrived at the school only to find， with great sadness mixed with some relief， that the school was empty and the classrooms were all locked. It was Saturday.
My ill luck showed no sign of coming to an end. When I returned home greatly frustrated， I found myself locked out. In my hurry I had forgotten to bring the key with me. Just my luck！
「点评」这篇文章按照时间顺序一气呵成。文章的标题、第一句和最后一句都点出了中心思想：“I had a most unlucky day”。故事从作者醒来开始，在慌慌张张中煎蛋卷、赶地铁、急奔学校、撞破眼镜、发现白忙乎了一场，最后猛然清醒——匆忙之中忘了钥匙！整个故事描述得精彩生动，既有动作的细节又有作者内心的感受，让读者也身临其境地体会了倒霉的一天。
根据以下提示叙述一场交通事故：1）用第一人称；2）短语提示：drive home at about 30 kilometers an hour；it was dark；a small girl chased a dog；not hit her but hit a car in the other direction3）写出作者对此交通意外的感想。
参考范文
Last night I was driving home from work. I had an accident. I was following behind a truck， driving at about 30 kilometers an hour. I was watching the traffic carefully because it was getting dark.
Suddenly a small girl ran onto the road from the left. She was chasing a dog and she wasn‘t paying any attention to the traffic. I immediately applied the brakes and turned the steering wheel quickly to the right.
The girl jumped towards the side of the road as soon as she saw my car. Fortunately I did not hit her， but I hit a car coming in the other direction. Luckily I was not driving very fast so the damage was not serious. It is better to damage a car than to injure a young child， I thought to myself.
B： 以第一人称写一篇记叙文，讲述在旅行中经历的一件小事。
参考范文
Go on a Mediterranean Journey
My wife and I have always enjoyed traveling by sea，and last year we decided to go on a Mediterranean journey. Although our holiday was rather expensive we thought that the high standard of accommodation， the first-class food and the many interesting places we saw were well worth the price we paid.
We found that most of the other passengers were friendly and interesting， but there was one man， a Mr. James， who irritated and annoyed us. Whatever subject we talked about， it seemed that he was an expert at it. He had， apparently， read more books， visited more countries and studied more languages， than anyone else had. After a few days， we ate our meals in silence， because nobody wanted to begin a conversation that would soon be taken over by this man.
Then my wife had an idea. She suggested that we might think of an unusual subject， look it up in an encyclopedia and then talk about it at dinner. If it were an unusual subject， Mr. James could not possibly know anything about it. The subject we chose was “English Agriculture in the Eleventh Century.” At dinner that night we discussed this subject with great enthusiasm. Mr. James was silent. We realized we had at last come to find something he knew nothing about.