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.

點評：

文章內容：
  
文章主要描述了一間在作者童年時期給他帶來無數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破舊，但是在作者的童年生活中，她扮演著守護神的角色，并且在之后的日子里一直是作者心中的避風港。

文章結構：

文章開頭就從外觀、內部結構和小屋周圍發(fā)生的事情等方面來我們對小屋有一個逐步的認識過程，最后一段總結小屋對作者的意義。

文章選題：

作者選擇童年時的經歷進行，娓娓道來，姜德雖然都是一些小事但都是真情的流露，可以看出作者對多年來一直陪伴守護自己的小屋有著深厚的情感。

綜合點評：

優(yōu)點：

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部結構的時候采用對比的手法，先寫了一些小屋的種種不足之處，然后又寫了“我”仍然愛著我的小屋，更顯出作者對小屋的懷念與熱愛。

3）結尾一句“有的東西不應該隨著成長消失”意味深長，給讀者留下了思考了一定的空間
     
缺點：

1）首先就是結構上有一些混亂，沒有把握住在哪一段應該介紹哪些內容，所以導致第四段的出現顯得沒頭沒尾。

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，但是季結尾有些模糊，主題到底是對自然生命的熱愛？童年的純真？還是對避風港的懷念？應該選一個自己要著重表達的主題來一個“點題”的動作，這樣文章就會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的小屋。日日夜夜，她看著大海的潮起潮落，就像她每個夏天看著我和家人來來去去一樣。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。

雖然與周圍一些復修過的鄰居相比，我舒適的小屋有點舊，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成的，窗戶要用木棒才能把它們撐起來。另外，抽水馬桶的滴水聲和咽嘍聲曾多次將我從夢里驚醒。但我仍舊愛這所一年又一年守候著我的小屋，她是我的守護神。多少個早晨，她那寬敞的前門走廊就向沙灘和海浪張開雙臂，將中午炙熱的陽光從我的身邊擋開。多少個午后，她用用后門的走廊為我擋開亞特蘭大那涼颼颼的風。小屋里面的墻上掛著一個從某個舊貨市場買來的守護著壁爐的老水手像。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。再配上一個同一風格的窗簾，我很快就會在海浪有節(jié)奏的拍打聲中進入夢鄉(xiāng)。

直到現在，每當想象自己從小屋的窗戶探出腦袋，我仍能感覺到發(fā)稍飄來淡淡的海水的咸味。我確信小屋任何時候都會一直守護著我，不管風浪有多大，直到有一天我有勇氣沖到那風浪中而不是去躲避。我永遠不會忘記第一次踏著沖浪板追浪的那種刺激的感覺，然后隨著它一直沖到岸上。這次刺激的經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帶給我的失望心情。

在小屋的看護著我，我也從不離開她太遠，就這樣，我度過了我童年的許多平靜時光。在巖石圈起來的小水潭里，揀貝殼，海星，還有一些其他一些海邊的玩具式的小生物。我還能準確地畫出我在一個炎熱的午后揀到的一個海星類生物。它們躺在一塊巖石的上面，被正午的太陽烤著。“救命！救命！”我仿佛聽見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始活動起來，在咸水中它們又恢復了活力。我看著它們，直到最后一個小東西也穿過巖石安全的返回大海。

幾年里，綠色小屋守護著我，從粉色沙灘桶到沙灘游戲到七月四號放焰火島與男孩子們在篝火旁圍坐。在這個沙灘上，我在綠色小屋的保護下成長，小屋永遠是我重要的部分，盡管我長大了改變了。過去的這個暑假是我第一個沒有去海邊小屋度過的暑假，但是我會忍不住地想念她。尤其想念當我每次踏上門前的臺階并保證再也不會一年都不來看她時她歡迎我的方式。她已經看著幾輩人的成長，我希望她可以繼續(xù)看護著我。雖然我可能會覺得自己很快就長大了，但是有一些東西是不應該隨著成長消失的。