这里apprenticeship是比喻义。卡耐基在本文中所讲的并不是他怎样学习经商，而是记叙了他不满13岁时开始在棉纺厂当小工的情况。但他把他少年时期这段经历看成是他一生成功创业（包括创建慈善事业）的“学徒期”（他在第六段中把这段时间称为“我以后办实业见决期的前奏”，即my preparation of the subsequent apprentice as a businessman），因为这段艰苦生活的磨难使他终身受益。

　　serve： spend a period of time learning a trade/ in a post/in prison

　　当学徒；任职；服刑，

　　eg： He has served in the army for three years.

　　他已经服了三年兵役。

　　eg：　Franklin Roosevelt served 4 terms as U.S. President.

　　富兰克林？罗斯福当了四任美国总统。

　　eg：　The man is serving a three-year sentence for bribery.

　　他因受贿被判入狱3年，正在服刑。

　　eg：　After serving a three-year apprenticeship in a garment factory， the young man was employed as a tailor.

　　在一家服装厂当了3年学徒之后，那年轻人被聘任为裁缝。

　　2. But there seems to be a questionpreceding his： Why did I become a businessman？

　　precede： （formal） to come or go before sb. /sth. in time，order， position， etc； to happen before sth.

　　先于，位于……之前，优先

　　eg：　A loud roar preceded the earthquake.

　　巨大的轰鸣声之后发生了地震。

　　eg：　In the preceding lecture we dealt with the development of nuclear technology.

　　上一节课我阐述了核技术的历程。

　　3. I am sure that　I should never have selected a business career if I had been permitted to choose. 我相信要是我有选择的余地，我不会选择经商的生涯。

　　if I had （此句包含一虚拟条件句）

　　eg：If I had been admitted by Peking University， I should have found a better major.

　　我要是被北大录取了，我就会找到一个更好的专业。

　　4. The　eldestson of parents who were themselves poor， I had， fortunately， to begin to perform some useful work in the world while still very young in order to earn an living　and therefore came to understand even early boyhood that my duty was to　asistmy parents and become， as soon as possible， a　breadwinner in the family.作为穷人家里的长子，我有幸为了谋生不得不很小就出外干活，因而在孩童时期就懂得了我的责任是协助父母养家，尽快成为家里挣钱

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