(old) first place in civil service examinations at three levels: provincial 解元[jie4 yuan2], metropolitan 會元|会元[hui4 yuan2] and palace 狀元|状元[zhuang4 yuan2]
三
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一
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二
:
Mnemonic symbol: Cartesian coordinate system with three (三) axes. Socrates (s-) is performing in front of the anthill (-an1). He created an electrical flute by attaching a large capacitor (二) to the flute (一), so that he can get the attention of all the people. Moreover, he's balancing on a Cartesian coordinate system (三). Unfortunately, only three (三) people stop to watch the performance.
currency unit (esp. Chinese yuan) / first / original / primary / fundamental / constituent / part / era (of a reign) / meta- (prefix) / (math.) argument / variable / (Tw) (geology) eon
元
=
二
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儿
:
Sun Wu Kong offers Yu the Great a coin just inside the anthill's kitchen. As Yu the Great takes it, she's literally shocked: Sun Wu Kong hooked up a capacitor to it to play a bad joke on her, and he's laughing his ass off.
(old) to rank first in the imperial examinations at the provincial capital, the national capital and the palace successively / (sports etc) to achieve three successes in a row (three matches in a row, three goals in a match etc)