I forgot about Brittany somewhere between eighth grade and freshman year. I found a new group of friends—girls from other schools who finally became the "in-crowd" in high school. Looking back, I was and am better than Brittany, and though I let her rule over my inadequacies in middle school, I never did again. She was exactly what I hated then and is the type of person I will never let myself become.

從八年級(jí)到大學(xué)一年級(jí)的那段日子里，我忘記了有關(guān)布里塔尼的往事。我結(jié)交了一群新朋友，她們來(lái)自其他學(xué)校，最終成了我們高中的風(fēng)云人物。現(xiàn)在回過(guò)頭看，不論是過(guò)去還是現(xiàn)在，我都比布里塔尼更優(yōu)秀。盡管她曾對(duì)我中學(xué)時(shí)代的種種缺陷指手畫(huà)腳，但我再也不會(huì)讓她得逞了。她的的確確就是我當(dāng)時(shí)所憎惡的人，而我永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)允許自己成為她那種人。

I found Brittany's online profile a few weeks ago and discovered nothing outwardly shocking. She still has the same chubby face and mocking smile, flipping off the camera as if she couldn't come up with anything original. I cringed at some half-naked pictures with captions that read "GeT bLaZeD." As I read on, I realized that Brittany had died in a drunken driving accident a year ago. She had been 16 and pregnant at the time. Suddenly my perception of Brittany changed from a bad influence into a struggling little girl whose life was taken before she could decipher right from wrong. I had wanted everything bad to happen to her, but no one deserves that. No one. Those who worshiped her may never again, but I will always think of Brittany as the girl who never had the chance to find herself.

幾周前，我在網(wǎng)上看到了布里塔尼的個(gè)人主頁(yè)。從外表來(lái)看，我并沒(méi)發(fā)現(xiàn)她有什么太糟糕的地方。仍舊是那張圓圓的臉龐，臉上依然掛著嘲弄人的竊笑。她對(duì)著相機(jī)豎起中指，好像再也擺不出什么新穎的姿勢(shì)。看到她拍的那些以“變得激情四射吧”作為說(shuō)明的半裸照片，我感到尷尬不已。等我繼續(xù)讀下去，才發(fā)現(xiàn)布里塔尼已于一年前在一次因酒后駕車(chē)引發(fā)的事故中喪生。當(dāng)時(shí)她只有16歲，還有了身孕。突然之間，我對(duì)布里塔尼的印象發(fā)生了轉(zhuǎn)變，由一個(gè)對(duì)周?chē)a(chǎn)生很壞影響的人，變成了一個(gè)苦苦掙扎的年輕女孩，一個(gè)在能明辨是非前就已失去生命的人。我曾希望一切不幸都降臨于她，可是，沒(méi)有人應(yīng)該受到這樣的懲罰啊。沒(méi)有人。也許那些曾經(jīng)愛(ài)慕過(guò)她的人再也不會(huì)念及她，但我卻會(huì)一直想到她——一個(gè)永遠(yuǎn)都沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自我的女孩。

My experience with Brittany taught me that though we are all naive in our youth, the choices we make will impact us forever. The people we choose to be will remain a part of us. I will always remember Brittany as that loud, overconfident girl, and a part of that shy, insecure person I used to be will always keep me humble.

這段與布里塔尼有關(guān)的經(jīng)歷教會(huì)了我一個(gè)道理：盡管年輕時(shí)我們都天真幼稚，但所做的選擇卻會(huì)影響我們的一生。我們選擇成為什么樣的人，那種人的特征就會(huì)成為我們的一部分留存下來(lái)。我會(huì)一直記住布里塔尼，那個(gè)舉止招搖而又張狂自負(fù)的女孩。而曾經(jīng)靦腆而又不自信的我也會(huì)一如既往地保持那份謙卑。