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.

从八年级到大学一年级的那段日子里，我忘记了有关布里塔尼的往事。我结交了一群新朋友，她们来自其他学校，最终成了我们高中的风云人物。现在回过头看，不论是过去还是现在，我都比布里塔尼更优秀。尽管她曾对我中学时代的种种缺陷指手画脚，但我再也不会让她得逞了。她的的确确就是我当时所憎恶的人，而我永远也不会允许自己成为她那种人。

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.

几周前，我在网上看到了布里塔尼的个人主页。从外表来看，我并没发现她有什么太糟糕的地方。仍旧是那张圆圆的脸庞，脸上依然挂着嘲弄人的窃笑。她对着相机竖起中指，好像再也摆不出什么新颖的姿势。看到她拍的那些以“变得激情四射吧”作为说明的半裸照片，我感到尴尬不已。等我继续读下去，才发现布里塔尼已于一年前在一次因酒后驾车引发的事故中丧生。当时她只有16岁，还有了身孕。突然之间，我对布里塔尼的印象发生了转变，由一个对周围产生很坏影响的人，变成了一个苦苦挣扎的年轻女孩，一个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临于她，可是，没有人应该受到这样的惩罚啊。没有人。也许那些曾经爱慕过她的人再也不会念及她，但我却会一直想到她——一个永远都没有机会发现自我的女孩。

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.

这段与布里塔尼有关的经历教会了我一个道理：尽管年轻时我们都天真幼稚，但所做的选择却会影响我们的一生。我们选择成为什么样的人，那种人的特征就会成为我们的一部分留存下来。我会一直记住布里塔尼，那个举止招摇而又张狂自负的女孩。而曾经腼腆而又不自信的我也会一如既往地保持那份谦卑。