Lesson 10

Question 1

tree

Answer 1

木

Question 2

woods

Answer 2

林

Question 3

forest

Answer 3

森

Question 4

dream

(N.)

Answer 4

梦

woods+evening
In my dreams, the woods are hovering overhead, luring me, in the dark of evening, into the dreamlike world.

Question 5

machine

Answer 5

机

tree+small table (how many?)

A machine that takes whole trunks of trees in one end and spits out small tables on the other.

Question 6

plant

(V.)

Answer 6

植

tree+straight

Instead of the bonsai style, plant a tree so that it can grow up straight.

Question 7

apricot

Answer 7

杏

tree+mouth

Picture a mouth agape at the bottom of the tree, waiting for apricots to fall into it.

Question 8

dim-witted

Answer 8

呆

mouth+tree
A dim-witted guy sits in the topmost branches of a tree with his mouth open, waiting for a fruit to fall in, but nothing happens.

Question 9

withered

Answer 9

枯

tree+ancient
An ancient and wrinkled tree is all withered up, and its spring blossoms all withered, spending the rest of its days in a retirement home.

Question 10

village

Answer 10

村

tree+glue (Chinese inch)
A circle of trees are glued together to measure off the confines of the village.

Question 11

one another

Answer 11

相

tree+eye
Love one another. First taking the tree trunk out of your own eye before worrying about the splinter in your neighbor’s eye. (A mishmash of Bible verses.)

Question 12

notebook

Answer 12

本

tree+one
See the cross-cut across the tree’s trunk. The chainsaw is cutting me out a few notebooks to practice writing hanzi.

Question 13

case

Answer 13

案

peaceful+tree
When you call your lawyer, she says, “I’m working on your case,” when actually she’s resting peacefully on a blanket underneath a tree.

Question 14

not yet

Answer 14

未

tree+an extra stroke (one)
The short line at the top of the tree, is a short, new branch; showing that this tree is not yet fully grown.

Question 15

last

(N./ADJ.)

Answer 15

末

tree+extra stroke (one)
The top branch is longer than the main branch, showing the tree has reached the last of its growth (the top branches stop spreading and start to droop downward).

Question 16

foam

Answer 16

沫

water+last
Foam is the last stage of water after it has dashed and splashed against the rocks, spraying in all directions. The foam is a wave that has run its full course and reached its last on the rocky seashore.

Question 17

flavor

(N.)

Answer 17

味

mouth+not yet
The mouth tastes the flavor of a fruit from the tree that is not yet fully grown. It’s full of flavor!

Question 18

younger sister

Answer 18

妹

woman+not yet
The woman in the family who is is not yet old and mature enough to do everything the older sister can do.

Question 19

investigate

Answer 19

查

tree+daybreak
Sir Isaac Newton investigates the laws of physics all through the night until daybreak. The tree stretches its branches to welcome the daybreak, dropping an apple on Newton’s head. Completing the gravity investigation.

Question 20

sediment

Answer 20

渣

water+investigate (tree+daybreak)
Scuba dive to investigate the sediment at the bottom of the reservoir to see what has made the water go bad. Mucking around the sediment, I find remnants of all sorts of garbage and chemical waste put there by the “dregs” of society.

Question 21

dye

(V.)

Answer 21

染

water+baseball（nine)+tree
Dye the trees. Water your tree seeds with hair dye to be able to carve out a brunette or platinum-streaked baseball bat.

Question 22

plum

Answer 22

李

tree+child
Little Jack Horner heads over to a tree, sticks in his thumb and pulls out a plum, which says, “What a weird child you are!”

Question 23

table

Answer 23

桌

magic wand+sun+tree
Magicians sit around a magical table made out of the stump of a tree, with a sun carved on the top. They pass the magic wand around the table to see if any of them can make the sun shine, burning a hole into the middle of the table.

Question 24

miscellaneous

Answer 24

杂

baseball+tree (altered)
Miscellaneous baseball bats are at the end of the row of those carefully arranged in order to length. The misc. bats are as long as trees, taking the same misc. steroids as the players.

Question 25

as if

Answer 25

若

flower+right
Buddha held up a flower with his right hand. His disciples were perplexed, Kasyapa smiled and Buddha handed him the flower, As If he had understood something that everyone else had missed. We still don’t know what this story means, but it’s still treated As If it’s of great importance.

Question 26

grass

Answer 26

草

flower+early

In early spring, I plant grass with daisies in a pattern spelling out my name.

Question 27

technique

Answer 27

艺

flower+fishhook (second)
A fishing technique to catch the ones that keep getting away. The fishhook is fitted out with a bouquet of daisies, along with a romantic note.

Question 28

suffering

(N.)

Answer 28

苦

flower+ancient
When a daisy ages and grows ancient, it pales and dries up, and endures suffering.

Question 29

wide

Answer 29

宽

house+flower+see
Wide Load. A glass “see”-through green”house”, complete with “flowers” is being driven down the highway at a turtle’s pace with a wide load sign plastered to the back.

Question 30

nobody

Answer 30

莫

flower+sun (day)+St. Bernard (large)
A graveyard with the rickety sign “Nobody, but Nobody Leaves Here.” But instead of a spooky, haunted graveyard, it has beautiful flowers, a shining sun, and even a cuddly St. Bernard dog guarding? the gate. It’s true that nobody would want to leave.

Question 31

imitate

Answer 31

模

tree+graveyard (nobody)
With artificial trees in this graveyard, even if it’s more convenient, it merely imitates the real thing. (Take it further with the graveyard hanzi having plastic flowers, a plyboard painted sun, and a ceramic St. Bernard.)

Question 32

desert

(N.)

Answer 32

漠

water+graveyard
The desert gives me a mirage of a body of water, but when I get closer I see that it’s a graveyard, with my own headstone there.

Question 33

grave

Answer 33

墓

graveyard+soil
Going up the hill with Josh Graves to see the Boot Hill graves in Tombstone, AZ, I see the the mound of dirt for the grave below it’s cross in the graveyard.

Question 34

seedling

Answer 34

苗

flower+brains (rice field)
In futuristic surgery, ideas or values might be implanted into brains like seedlings for a harmonious society. The seedling talking root to flower right out through the tops of heads of people walking around the streets.

Question 35

aim

Answer 35

瞄

eye+tomato seedling
When I aim at something with your rifle, I realize that the crosshairs have been replaced with the serrated leaves of a tomato seedling, tickling your eyeball, throwing off my aim.