I have written several columns on today's high school and college students, expressing my worries over their being pampered by parents and their susceptibility to hedonism. Though I have never doubted the moral quality of the majority of the youths, the heroic deed of three university freshmen, who sacrificed their lives to save two young boys from drowning in the Yangtze River, still humbled me.

Fourteen students from Changjiang University in Jingzhou, Hubei province, had assembled for a get-together on one of the banks of the Yangtze on Saturday morning when they saw two boys falling into the river. They, including several female students, immediately jumped into the water and joined hands to form a human chain, and tried to pull the two kids from the swift currents.

After one of the boys was pulled to safety and the other was approaching the bank, a strong current broke the human chain. Three winter swimmers, all in their sixties, happened to be nearby and came to the students' rescue. They pulled out six of them, but could not save the other three. All the three were 19-years-old and had enrolled in the university only two months ago.