If you have the chance to go back to ancient China and ask an educated man what his biggest dream was.

如果你回到古代去問一個讀書人，他最大的夢想是什么？

He would tell you that he wants to become a zhuang yuan,a title conferred on the scholar who came first in the highest imperial examination.

那他多半會告訴你，中狀元。

In ancient China,it was not that easy to be an official.

在中國古代，想做官可不容易。

You have to take exams first. The exams are very difficult and have many procedures.

你要先參加考試，考試很難，要層層選拔。

The outcome has to be confirmed by the Emperor himself.

最后還要皇帝親自確認。

The number one scholar with the best score in the imperial exam is called zhuang yuan.

最終成績排在第一名的叫做狀元。

Once you are selected as zhuang yuan you will be appreciated by the Emperor and appear in a parade downtown with a red robe and a tall,strong horse.

一旦考上狀元可就風光啦，不僅會得到皇帝的賞識，還能穿紅袍、騎大馬在城里游行。

Zhuang yuan is referred to the elite scholars.

所以，狀元都是讀書人中的精英。

Now the imperial competitive examination has been cancelled for many years.

如今科舉考試早就不存在了。

However,people still like to call the best person in their field a zhuang yuan.

但人們還是喜歡用狀元來形容各行業(yè)的第一名。

An old saying goes that there are 360 trades and every trade has his master or zhuang yuan。

正如中國有句俗話：“三百六十行，行行出狀元。”