老与少

老年为少年之过来人，少年为老年之候补者。老与少，只不过时间上之差别而已。然中国习惯，对老少之间，往往划有无形界限。在客观上，有时重老而轻少，有时重少而轻老。在主观上，老者自恃其老，少者自矜其少。几千年来，形成老者自以为经验丰富而鄙薄少年为处事幼稚，而少年自以为活力充沛而蔑视老者为老朽昏庸。这真是偏颇的见地！

梁启超在《少年中国说》一文中，对老年人与少年人曾有一适当对比。他说：“老年人如夕照，少年人如朝阳；老年人如僧，少年人如侠；老年人如字典，少年人如戏文；老年人如埃及沙漠之金字塔，少年人如西伯利亚之铁路；……”

观此，则知老年与少年，各有所长，各有所用。

My translation:

                                  The Old and the Young

The old used to be young, and the young will grow old inevitably. The difference between the old and the young lies just in the sense of time. Yet, in traditional Chinese culture, there is usually an invisible line between the old and the young. Objectively speaking, sometimes people pay more attention and care to the old (consider the old more important than the young); sometimes to the young (the young become the important ones). Subjectively speaking, the old are proud of themselves, so are the young. For thousands of years, the old depreciate the young for their immaturity and lack of experience, whereas the young despise the old for their stiffness and lack of energy. How biased they are!

In the book "On Chinese Youth" written by Liang Qi'chao, a Chinese scholar, he gives a series of classic comparisons between the old and the young. He said "If the old are like the setting sun, the young are the rising sun; the old the priest, the young the knight; the old the dictionary, the young the play-script; the old the pyramid in Egypt, the young the railway across Siberia; … "

To sum up, the old and the young have their own strong points and specific fields.