A few years ago it was fashionable to speak of a generation gap. Parents complained that children didn't show them proper respect and obedience, while children complained that their parents didn't understand them at all. Many critics argue that it is built into the fabric of our society.
One cause of the generation gap is the opportunity that young people have to choose their own life. In traditional socieries, children live in the same area as their parents, marry people their parents know and approve of, and often continue the family occupation. In our society, people often move out of the home at an early age, marry or live with people their parents have never met, and choose occupations that are rather different.
In our upwardly mobile society, parents often expect their children to be better than them. However, these ambitions for their children are another cause of the division between them. Often they discover that they have very little in common.
Finally, the speed of change in our society is another cause of it. In a traditional culture, people are valued for their wisdom, but in our society the knowledge of a lifetime may become out of date. The young and the old seem to live in two very different worlds, separated by different skills and abilities.
No doubt, the generation gap will continue to be a feature of our life for some time to come. Its causes are rooted in the freedoms and opportunities of our society, and in the rapid pace at which society changes.
代沟
几年前，代沟是一个非常流行的词。父母抱怨孩子对他们没有应有的尊重和服从；而孩子们却抱怨父母根本不理解他们。很多批评家指出，这成为了我们社会结构的组
成部分。
造成代沟的原因之一，是现在年轻人对自己的生活有了更多的机会进行选择。传统的社会里，孩子和他们的父母生活在同一个地方，与父母认识并认可的人结婚，常常几代人做着同样的工作。而在现代的社会中，人们年轻时就离开家，他们的结婚对象可能父母从来没见过，他们选择的职业也与祖辈大相径庭。
在这个人往高处发展的社会，父母总是盼望着孩子能比自己过得好。然而这种对孩子的期望也是造成他们之间分歧的另一个原因。其结果常常是发现父母和孩子之间共
同之处很少。
最后，现代社会的飞速变化也是形成代沟的一个原因。传统社会里，人们往往以智慧来衡量一个人。而现在，一种知识用一生的观点已经过时了。不同的技术，不同的能力，将年轻人和年长的人划入两个完全不同的世界。
毫无疑问，在今后相当一段时间里，代沟将会继续成为我们生活的一个特征。它产生的原因源于社会的自由和选择，源于社会日新月异的快速发展。
