第一类：日常生活
历年四级作文话题中，有4篇为日常生活类。
The Tape Recorder
Changes in Peoples Diet
The World Is Getting Smaller and Smaller
My Most Favorite Programme
这些话题都是关于我们日常生活中的变化，尤其是物质上的变化。有的甚至伴有图表，让大家看图写作文。
我们先来看一篇范文：
From the chart we can see that during the past five years there have been great changes in peoples diet. The greatest change occurs in grain consumption, which has dropped 4% from 49% in 1986 to 45% in 1990 in total food consumption. The second greatest change is in milk consumption, which increased from 10% in 1986 to 13% in 1990. But on the other hand, two trends can be observed in the consumption of meat and fruit and vegetables. From 1986 to 1989, meat consumption increased from 17% to 23% while that of fruit and vegetables dropped from 24% to 20%. From 1989 to 1990, meat consumption dropped a little to 21%, while that of fruit and vegetables increased a little to 21%.
What has caused the great changes in peoples diet? The main reason, I think, lies in the improvement in peoples income level. With the development of our society, people are becoming richer and richer, which enables them to purchase more nutritious food such as meat and milk. In the meantime, grain consumption in peoples diet consequently dropped.
So from the analysis, we can draw a conclusion that our society is progressing and people are living a better life than ever before. We are now able to purchase more delicious and nutritious food, resulting in an improvement in our health.
从范文中我们可以对这类话题有个大概了解。日常生活类文章一般可以写成描述性文章。如果有图表，那么我们一般需要准备的工作有一下几方面：
1.审题
在看到这篇作文要求的时候，不要盲目的下笔，而是仔细揣摩一下题目想让我们表达哪方面的意思，也就是侧重点。拿上面的范文来说，侧重点就是人们生活水平提高了，国家富强了。那么我们写作的中心就要围绕着这个侧重点而来。
2.构思
在写之前，心里要有一个谱-我要写几段?每段描写什么?有什么主题句?这三个问题也是写其他类型作文的基本步骤。因为考试时间只有30分钟，所以不允许我们浪费一分一秒。有的考生就是因为没构思好，写到一半想要重新来写，结果时间不够，而且卷面很乱，心里最后慌为一团。
3.亮点
一篇作文贵在有亮点，吸引人。四级作文评分时，阅卷老师分配给每篇作文的时间很短。那么我们就要考虑如何来用自己的亮点赢得阅卷老师的好评。这是一个小小的捷径。我们可以看一下上面的范文：三段中都围绕着饮食水平展开。从一个方面扩大到大方向：社会在进步，人民生活水平在提高。其中第二段的第一句话也就是本段的主题句(What has caused the great changes in peoples diet? The main reason, I think, lies in the improvement in peoples income level.)，用问答方式来写，与众不同，会给阅卷老师极深印象。
框架有了，但里面得需要我们填充内容，才能让整篇作文读起来有质感。句式，单词，复杂句等要配合好。有的同学平时背了很多好句子，考试时一股脑都搬到作文中，但有的句子不一定适合本篇主题。
说了这么多，现在我们以：Changes in Mass Media 为题来练习一下。