It’s a nightmare for Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST): within a week, two students committed suicide by jumping off dorm buildings.
對于整個華中科技大學來說，這簡直就是場噩夢：一周之內，兩名學生在宿舍跳樓自殺。

Officials from the university are reluctant to give interviews.
校方官員們不愿接受采訪。

“We had a hard time calming down students who were shocked at the suicides,” said Zhang Jingyuan, head of HUST’s center for research and guidance for students’ development.
“我們好不容易才安撫好那些被自殺事件嚇壞了的學生，”華中科技大學大學生發展研究與指導中心主任章勁元說。

“Media coverage may arouse some students’ negative emotions again. Suicide can be contagious,” Zhang said.
他說，“媒體的報道將會再次引發學生的消極情緒，自殺是會傳染的。”

The university reacted promptly to the first suicide on October 23.
對于今年10月23號發生的第一起自殺事件，華中科技大學迅速做出應急措施。

Advisors and class leaders conducted dorm-to-dorm checks to find students suffering depression. Then psychologists offered one-on-one counseling to them.
輔導員和班長們走訪了每個宿舍，找出遭遇抑郁的學生。然后，心理咨詢師會為這些學生提供一對一的心理咨詢。

Notice boards publicizing tips for identifying peers’ mental problems and offering help were set up in front of dorm buildings. Leaflets carrying similar information were handed out to each dorm.
宿舍樓前豎起一些布告欄，為同學們普及關于如何發現身邊人遭遇心理問題并提供幫助的小貼士。印有類似內容的小冊子也被分發給每個寢室。

However, the second suicide came seven days later.
然而，七天后，第二起自殺事件發生了。

Both students were described as men of few words. Their schoolmates didn’t see anything to indicate suicide.
據周圍人描述，這兩名學生都很少言寡語。他們的同學都沒有覺察到任何自殺前的征兆。

Zhang revealed that the two students had been bothered by mental disorders. But the school didn’t know this until the students’ close friends outside school and their parents unveiled the truth after the suicides.
章勁元透露，這兩名學生曾經飽受心理疾病的困擾。但是學校對此并不知情，他們校外的好友和家長也是在自殺事件發生后才說出實情。

According to Zhang, there are only three full-time counselors working in the university’s counseling center for its 60,000 students. He complained: “It’s unrealistic to rely only on counselors to detect students’ mental problems.”
據章勁元說，全校共有六萬名學生，但學校的心理咨詢中心只有三位全職心理咨詢師。他抱怨說：“僅僅依靠心理咨詢師來察覺學生的心理問題，這是不現實的。”

Some universities in the US may be able to offer solutions to Zhang’s worries. They have established programs to train students to be the bridge between troubled friends and counselors.
一些美國的大學或許可以為章勁元的擔憂提供解決對策。他們成立了一些學生培訓項目，使得他們能夠在陷入困境的同伴與心理咨詢師之間搭起橋梁。

At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, at Worcester, Massachusetts, US, young people in the Student Support Network role play to learn how to detect SOS signals from their schoolmates.
在美國馬薩諸塞州的伍斯特理工學院，來自“學生支持網絡”的年輕人們通過角色扮演來學習如何去察覺他們身邊的同學們發出的求救信號。

They also practice how to gently persuade emotionally troubled students to go for professional help.
他們也會練習如何委婉說服那些遭遇心理問題的學生們去尋找專業幫助。

To develop such empathy, many universities in China have organized campus events to popularize knowledge about mental health. But these are not that attractive to students.
為了發揮這種移情作用，很多中國大學也組織了一系列校園活動來普及心理健康知識。但這些活動對學生來說沒什么吸引力。

Ke Juanjuan, 24, is pursuing a master’s degree in English translation at HUST. Ke has found that few of her peers will pay attention to activities about mental health when they are not troubled by it.
24歲的柯娟娟（音譯）正在華中科技大學攻讀英語翻譯碩士學位。她發現，在沒有遭遇心理問題的情況下，她身邊的同齡人幾乎沒人會去關注這些心理健康活動。

Rather than bombard students with the words “mental health”, Ke suggested the school organize lectures and workshops concerning study, job-hunting and relationships. She explained: “Students care about these topics. They tend to have problems in these areas and may thus get stuck in depression.
比起連珠炮式地向學生們灌輸“心理健康”，柯娟娟更建議學校去組織一些與學習、求職以及戀愛關系有關的講座和工作坊。她解釋說：“學生都很關注這些話題。他們常常在這些方面遇到難題，很可能因此陷入絕望。

“By helping students better deal with these problems, the school can effectively prevent self-inflicted injury and suicide among students.”
“通過幫助學生更好地處理這些問題，學校可以有效預防學生中自殘和自殺事件的發生。”

Effective prevention comes from long-term education for life instead of temporary intervention to meet an emergency, said Hu Yi’an. Hu delivers a course of lectures on life and death at Guangzhou University. He worries that universities have paid little attention to education for life.
有效的預防來自于長期的生命教育，而并非遭遇緊急狀況時的臨時干預，胡毅安（音譯）說。他在廣州大學教授以生命和死亡為主題的課程。他為各大高校給予生命教育的關注少之又少而擔憂。

“Education for life helps students respect and love life so they won’t resort to ending their lives when they have difficulties,” said Hu.
“生命教育可以幫助學生尊重、熱愛生命，這樣一來，當他們遇到困難的時候就不會選擇結束生命了,” 胡毅安說。

According to Hu, the principles can be incorporated into everyday teaching.
胡毅安還表示，這些觀念可以融入到日常教學中去。

For example, teachers should make it clear to students that they are not studying chemistry to obtain a diploma or find a job; it’s a science that can, say, invent medicine to make people’s life better.
例如，老師們應該清楚地告訴學生，他們之所以要學習化學并不僅僅是為了拿到畢業證或找份工作；化學是一門科學，它可以用來發明藥物，進而造福百姓生活。

Hu is also concerned that some universities are conveying discriminatory message that will hold back students from seeking help.
胡老師也很擔心一些大學傳遞出帶有歧視性的信息會使得學生們不愿去尋求幫助。

When HUST conducted the dorm-to-dorm examination, students with poor academic performance were paid special attention. In March, Peking University also released a controversial policy, which required teachers to have a chat with students “with biased thinking”.
當華中科技大學校方挨個宿舍進行走訪時，學習成績較差的學生也被給予了特別關照。三月份，北京大學也推行了一項備受爭議的政策，該新規要求教師們要找那些學生中的“激進分子”談話。

Yu Xiaojie, 17, is a freshman from Communication University of China, Nanjing. He has an inferiority complex about being from the countryside. He’s also nervous about getting on with fellow students.
17歲的于曉杰（音譯）是中國傳媒大學南廣學院的一名大一新生。他對于自己來自于農村而感到自卑，與同學相處時也很緊張。

Yu has turned to strangers online, most of whom are as pessimistic about college life as he is. “I’m afraid of being outspoken in front of my teachers and classmates. They may treat me as if I were a troubled kid,” said Yu.
于曉杰更喜歡同陌生網友相處，他們當中的大多數人也和他一樣，對大學生活持悲觀態度。“當著老師和同學的面，我不敢暢所欲言。他們可能會把我當成是問題少年。”于曉杰說。

However, Hu suggested that students step out of their comfort zone to seek real-life communication.
而胡毅安則建議學生們要走出他們的舒適地帶，尋找現實中的溝通交流。