When Ms. Chow announced the coming “Battle of the Books”, we were so excited. She said, “You’re going to be in teams of three, and you’ll need to set a reading goal for your team. Every team that meets their goal by the end of the month will get a prize!”

That sounded pretty good to me. Wyatt turned to me, saying, “Teammates?”

“Oh, sure!” I said. Wyatt and I liked a lot of the same books, so we could set a goal like reading every graphic novel (漫画小说) in a series.

The lunch bell sounded before Ms. Chow could explain any more rules. Liya came to our desk and said “Teammates?” to Wyatt and me.

“Yeah, teammates!” Wyatt and I answered happily. Liya could read super-fast in both Hindi and English. If we set a goal like reading books by authors from different countries, she could help the team for sure.

Over lunch, we discussed what we needed to do for the contest (竞赛) when Kash came to us.“Do you have ideas for us?”I asked him.

Kash said, “Why would I give you guys ideas? I’ll save them for my team. ”

“Kash, come on, ”I said. “It’s teams of three. Wyatt and Liya said something to me first. If you had, then it would be different. ”

“I see how I rank (属于某等级) in the friendship lineup, ”Kash said angrily, and left.

We were very surprised, but we understood him. The four of us always did things together. I felt the only way to fix this was to allow four people on a team.

So, in the afternoon we went to see Ms. Chow. Guess what? She told us she was going to draw names to assign random groups (随机分配组).

As we walked out of the office, we became silent. We knew even if Ms. Chow had let us form a four-person group, Kash knew we had first teamed up without him. We knew we wouldn’t be able to enjoy any prize if one of our best friends felt bad about being left out. What could we do to clear up this misunderstanding?

Who is in control of your life? Who is pulling your strings? For the majority of us, it’s other people-society, colleagues, friends, or our family. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry(模仿), their passions a quotation.”

When people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug-we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their drug, we worsen our own existence to get our own constant drug of approval.

But, just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom-the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. Moreover, people have their own business, and in the end, they’re more interested in themselves than in you. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process.

So how can we take back control? I think there’s only one way-make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values-not values imposed(强加)from the outside by others, but values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others, we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.

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Eggs,bacon,bagels,and croissants(羊角面包），her favourite meal of the day sat right in front of her telling her to have more, probably just this one day. Her hand reached out for the last croissant;"STOP"said her mind,"PLEASE"begged the nineteen-year-old heart. Annie could feel the tyres around her waist, weighing her down, emotionally and physically. She pulled her hand back,eyeing the inviting croissant, which would have been hers, if only she had not decided to follow her dream, a dream which seemed beyond her reach.

But there she was, she wanted it, and wanted it badly,a fantasy of a teenager to fit into the beautiful peacock green bikini(比基尼）.A trip had been planned,to the sunny beaches,by a group of friends,and the trip included her. She used to sit depressed listening to her slim friends discuss about the kind of clothes they purchased, and how short each of their skirts were,and how beautiful they looked. She wanted to see their expression change from surprise to admiration,so she decided go on diet and take fitness courses.

Weeks passed,and her patience started to die away. The fat was stubborn and refused to melt fast,but the time went fast. No matter how less she ate,she still looked awfully plump(胖的）， which annoyed her and she was ready to call it quits. She sat on her bed and wept an entire evening: ignoring her dinner.Her tears dried up,and she lay down on her bed staring at the ceiling,letting random thoughts pass through her mind. Then                           she heard two women talking outside her window. She heard one woman saying:"My child is special,and every child is god's gift. It doesn't matter what's on the outside, inner self is what matters."

Curious,Annie got up and looked out of her window.

Annie turned her eyes away from the scene and saw her own figure in the mirror.