A small green cottage with a curved roof rests on a soft sandy beach in Maine. All day and all night, she watches the tide roll in and out, just as she has watched my family and me roll in and out of her doors every summer. Bordered by tidal rocks on the left and a tidal river on the right, this cottage and its surrounding sandy beach are my sanctuary. They have become my place of peace and hold some of the most vivid memories of my childhood.

Compared to some of her newly renovated neighbors, my cozy little cottage is an old but classic beauty. Her small, dark rooms are lined with a rich floor-to-ceiling mahogany, and those windows that do open are propped up with wooden sticks. Additionally, her plumbing ticks and groans, and many a midnight "escape" has been foiled by her staircase creaking mid-descent. Yet I love this little cottage that continues to wait for me year after year. She is my protector: In the mornings, her large front porch opens its arms to the sand and surf, shading me from the blazing noonday sun. In the late afternoons, her smaller back porch shelters me from the chilling Atlantic winds. Within her inner walls, an ancient mariner statue bought from some long-ago yard sale guards the old stone fireplace. During the nights, I comfortably nestle in the coziness of the softly worn nautical print bedspreads in the front bedroom, and beside the matching curtains as I drift off to sleep, lulled by the rhythmic crash of the surf.

Even now, I can still feel and smell the salty sea air blowing through my hair every time I imagine myself sticking my head outside of one of the cottage’s windows. I’m sure she watched me very carefully whenever the waves seemed to loom too high above me, at least until that one day when my courage soared and I crashed through the wave instead of hiding from it. I will always remember the thrill of catching a wave on a boogie board for the first time, then riding it all the way into shore. The excitement I experienced on the water was a happy change from the disappointment of watching my perfect sandcastles overtaken by the rolling white warriors riding in on the waves to cascade the sandy walls.

Just steps away from the cottage and always within her sight, I spent many a peaceful childhood hour in and between the tidal rocks and pools, searching for little crabs, starfish, and other toy-like sea creatures. I can still picture the star creatures that I rescued one particularly hot afternoon. They were lying atop a rock, being crisped by the noonday sun. "Help! Help!" I could practically hear their tiny little voices calling out for me to rescue them. I quickly collected all of the golden starfish in my pink plastic beach pail and carefully waddled over to the nearest tide pool. Gently placing the small creatures in the cool water, I watched as, slowly, their limbs and little suction feet began to wave and come to life in the salt water. I continued to watch until the last of them fled underneath the rocks toward their safety and freedom in the cool dark water.

Over the years, the little green cottage has watched as I’ve moved on from pink beach pails to beach games and fireworks on the fourth of July, from beach bonfires at night to beach bonfires with boys sitting around them. I grew up on this little beach under the protective eye of the little green cottage, and it will always possess a part of me even as I grow and change. This past summer was the first summer that I did not visit the little green cottage by the sea, and I cannot help but miss her. I especially miss the way she welcomes me back each time I walk up the porch steps and promise to never again go a year without seeing her. She has watched many generations grow, and I hope she will continue to watch over me. Although I may feel as if I am growing up quickly, there are some things that a person should never outgrow.

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

文章內(nèi)容：
  
文章主要描述了一間在作者童年時(shí)期給他帶來(lái)無(wú)數(shù)美好回憶的海邊小屋。雖然它和周圍的其他建筑相比顯得有點(diǎn)破舊，但是在作者的童年生活中，她扮演著守護(hù)神的角色，并且在之后的日子里一直是作者心中的避風(fēng)港。

文章結(jié)構(gòu)：

文章開(kāi)頭就從外觀、內(nèi)部結(jié)構(gòu)和小屋周圍發(fā)生的事情等方面來(lái)我們對(duì)小屋有一個(gè)逐步的認(rèn)識(shí)過(guò)程，最后一段總結(jié)小屋對(duì)作者的意義。

文章選題：

作者選擇童年時(shí)的經(jīng)歷進(jìn)行，娓娓道來(lái)，姜德雖然都是一些小事但都是真情的流露，可以看出作者對(duì)多年來(lái)一直陪伴守護(hù)自己的小屋有著深厚的情感。

綜合點(diǎn)評(píng)：

優(yōu)點(diǎn)：

1）選題方面比較貼近生活，容易引起共鳴。

2）第二段在介紹小屋內(nèi)部結(jié)構(gòu)的時(shí)候采用對(duì)比的手法，先寫了一些小屋的種種不足之處，然后又寫了“我”仍然愛(ài)著我的小屋，更顯出作者對(duì)小屋的懷念與熱愛(ài)。

3）結(jié)尾一句“有的東西不應(yīng)該隨著成長(zhǎng)消失”意味深長(zhǎng)，給讀者留下了思考了一定的空間
     
缺點(diǎn)：

1）首先就是結(jié)構(gòu)上有一些混亂，沒(méi)有把握住在哪一段應(yīng)該介紹哪些內(nèi)容，所以導(dǎo)致第四段的出現(xiàn)顯得沒(méi)頭沒(méi)尾。

2）主題不明確，一篇出色的ESSAY總是能從小事中悟出一些道理或者學(xué)到一些東西。但是本篇文章寫的雖然也是一些小事，但是季結(jié)尾有些模糊，主題到底是對(duì)自然生命的熱愛(ài)？童年的純真？還是對(duì)避風(fēng)港的懷念？應(yīng)該選一個(gè)自己要著重表達(dá)的主題來(lái)一個(gè)“點(diǎn)題”的動(dòng)作，這樣文章就會(huì)有讓人眼前一亮的效果。

譯文：

緬因州的小屋

在緬因州柔軟的沙灘上安放著一所綠色弧形屋頂?shù)男∥?。日日夜夜，她看著大海的潮起潮落，就像她每個(gè)夏天看著我和家人來(lái)來(lái)去去一樣。小屋左邊靠海右邊依著巖石，她和周圍沙灘就是我的圣殿。它們構(gòu)成了我的和平地并承載了我童年大部分美好的記憶。

雖然與周圍一些復(fù)修過(guò)的鄰居相比，我舒適的小屋有點(diǎn)舊，但是她又一種傳統(tǒng)的美。小屋從地板到屋頂都是由花心木構(gòu)成的，窗戶要用木棒才能把它們撐起來(lái)。另外，抽水馬桶的滴水聲和咽嘍聲曾多次將我從夢(mèng)里驚醒。但我仍舊愛(ài)這所一年又一年守候著我的小屋，她是我的守護(hù)神。多少個(gè)早晨，她那寬敞的前門走廊就向沙灘和海浪張開(kāi)雙臂，將中午炙熱的陽(yáng)光從我的身邊擋開(kāi)。多少個(gè)午后，她用用后門的走廊為我擋開(kāi)亞特蘭大那涼颼颼的風(fēng)。小屋里面的墻上掛著一個(gè)從某個(gè)舊貨市場(chǎng)買來(lái)的守護(hù)著壁爐的老水手像。晚上，我安逸的躺在臥室前面那舒適柔軟的印著海上圖案的床罩上。再配上一個(gè)同一風(fēng)格的窗簾，我很快就會(huì)在海浪有節(jié)奏的拍打聲中進(jìn)入夢(mèng)鄉(xiāng)。

直到現(xiàn)在，每當(dāng)想象自己從小屋的窗戶探出腦袋，我仍能感覺(jué)到發(fā)稍飄來(lái)淡淡的海水的咸味。我確信小屋任何時(shí)候都會(huì)一直守護(hù)著我，不管風(fēng)浪有多大，直到有一天我有勇氣沖到那風(fēng)浪中而不是去躲避。我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記第一次踏著沖浪板追浪的那種刺激的感覺(jué)，然后隨著它一直沖到岸上。這次刺激的經(jīng)歷讓我徹底改變了之前精心壘好的沙堡被那些行走在浪尖上的白色勇士們毀掉時(shí)帶給我的失望心情。

在小屋的看護(hù)著我，我也從不離開(kāi)她太遠(yuǎn)，就這樣，我度過(guò)了我童年的許多平靜時(shí)光。在巖石圈起來(lái)的小水潭里，揀貝殼，海星，還有一些其他一些海邊的玩具式的小生物。我還能準(zhǔn)確地畫出我在一個(gè)炎熱的午后揀到的一個(gè)海星類生物。它們躺在一塊巖石的上面，被正午的太陽(yáng)烤著。“救命！救命！”我仿佛聽(tīng)見(jiàn)它們用微弱的聲音呼喊著我去救它們。我趕快將所有的金色海星揀到我的粉色沙灘桶里，再小心翼翼的將它們放到最近的一個(gè)巖石水潭，看著它們，慢慢的，我看到它們的四肢和帶吸盤的腳開(kāi)始活動(dòng)起來(lái)，在咸水中它們又恢復(fù)了活力。我看著它們，直到最后一個(gè)小東西也穿過(guò)巖石安全的返回大海。

幾年里，綠色小屋守護(hù)著我，從粉色沙灘桶到沙灘游戲到七月四號(hào)放焰火島與男孩子們?cè)隗艋鹋試?。在這個(gè)沙灘上，我在綠色小屋的保護(hù)下成長(zhǎng)，小屋永遠(yuǎn)是我重要的部分，盡管我長(zhǎng)大了改變了。過(guò)去的這個(gè)暑假是我第一個(gè)沒(méi)有去海邊小屋度過(guò)的暑假，但是我會(huì)忍不住地想念她。尤其想念當(dāng)我每次踏上門前的臺(tái)階并保證再也不會(huì)一年都不來(lái)看她時(shí)她歡迎我的方式。她已經(jīng)看著幾輩人的成長(zhǎng)，我希望她可以繼續(xù)看護(hù)著我。雖然我可能會(huì)覺(jué)得自己很快就長(zhǎng)大了，但是有一些東西是不應(yīng)該隨著成長(zhǎng)消失的。