I Don't Have to Be Like Them(保持真我)

    All students have to face their own problems when they are growing up. You may not think that having a good family is a problem. But for me , it was. I had to face the problem of being the youngest of the Smith girls.

We live in a small town in Pennsylvania, US. There are three girls in the Smith family, Amanda, Theresa and me . People often say things to me , like “ Oh, the three of you , you're such nice girls. Your sisters are so pretty and so thin! You're really nothing like them .” That made me sad.

    At school ,all of my teachers had taught my sisters . On the first day of school ,they said , “Oh , the youngest of the three! I hope you're just like your sisters. They're such wonderful students.”

    People always compared（比较） me with my sisters . So I couldn't help comparing myself with them ,too. Theresa was smarter（更聪明的）, Amanda was prettier . I began to work hard to be more like them .What my sisters did , I did , too. At last , I became drum major（主鼓手）of our school 's marching band . Both Amanda and Theresa had been drum majors . I became editor of the school's newspaper . Theresa had been the editor two years before.

    But last year, Amanda went to college（大学） , and Theresa went to high school . Now I'm by myself at junior high . Everyone knows me , because I'm the drum major and the newspaper's editor .

    Now I don't feel like a Smith girl any more , I feel like myself . I'm proud of doing all of the same great things that my sisters did . But the best thing I did was to learn to stop comparing myself with them .