There exist words which can be used to describe the elderly. Those words may have something in common and they seem to be the same at the first glimpse. But they may differ in the meanings if the words are studied in depth. Then how to study Chinese about the idioms and phrases? The method is that the foreign students should learn the literal meaning of the words and the specific application of the words. today we will see two words of老当益壮and 老骥伏枥. Those two words are all used to refer to the elderly and the two words all use to describe the condition of the elderly.
The idiom 老当益壮 refers to the healthy and strong condition of the elderly though they are in old age. The word came from the ancient book and the sentence read that 丈夫立志,穷当益坚,老当益壮. The meaning of the sentence is that the men should be sturdier when he is in a difficult and awkward situation and that the older one gets, the stronger he should be. The word 当 is an adverb in the idiom and it means should literally. When the word is used singly, the literal meaning of the idiom does not indicate praise but criticism. The implication of the idiom is that one should be healthy and strong when one gets older. Thus, if one wants to praise the healthy and strong condition of the elderly, he should say 老而益壮if he wants to praise the elderly. The literal meaning of this idiom is that one gets stronger even though he is old.
The idiom 老骥伏枥refers to those who strives to do something even he is old. The idiom comes from the poem by Caocao which reads 老骥伏枥,志在千里;烈士暮年,壮心未已. The meaning of the sentence is that the old horse wants to travel one thousand a day and the hero is still ambitious when he is old. The foreign students in place to learn Chinese should know that the tone of the sentence is passive.
The tone of the idiom expresses the sense that the horse can not go any further even though it has the wish to travel one thousand meters a day. The meaning of the idiom is just like traveling against the wind, which means that one has the intention to travel but he is not able to travel any longer.