Lesson 4

Question 1

only

Answer 1

只

mouth+animal legs
A creature with only a mouth and animal legs. The only one of its kind.

Question 2

shellfish

Answer 2

贝

eye+animal legs
A freakish shellfish with a single gigantic eye, roaming around on little animal legs scaring sunbathers.

Question 3

paste

(N.)

Answer 3

贴

shellfish+tell fortunes
An oyster pasting a poster on his back to advertise his fortune telling.

Question 4

chaste

Answer 4

贞

divination+shellfish
The famous shellfish, Oysterogenes, running around with his diving rod looking for a chaste man.

Question 5

employee

Answer 5

员

mouth+shellfish
New employees are told to keep their mouths shut and do their jobs. Literally scurrying around with clams pinched to their mouths.

Question 6

youngster

Answer 6

儿

The really long legs of a youngster who is growing out of his clothes faster than his parents can buy them. He’s “all legs.”

Question 7

how many?

Answer 7

几

“Blowin’ in the Wind.” “How many roads must a man walk down…? How many…?” (primative: wind or small table)

Question 8

see

Answer 8

见

eye+human legs

Question 9

beginning

Answer 9

元

two+human legs
“In the beginning…” God made two of them, a male and a female human.

Question 10

page

Answer 10

页

one+drop+shellfish
The title of this book “Pearl of Wisdom” is printed on the shell of an oyster. When you open up the one and only page, there’s a single drop of wisdom. (primative: head)

Question 11

stubborn

Answer 11

顽

beginning+head (page)
A blockhead stubbornly sticks to an idea just the way it was at the beginning. Or Cain, “in the beginning” sticking to his own way of doing things and having a stubborn grimace on his face.

Question 12

ordinary

Answer 12

凡

Think of something really ordinary( a tee shirt) and then say, “It’s just a drop in the wind” (instead a drop in the bucket)

Question 13

muscle

Answer 13

肌

part of the body (flesh/month)+small table (how many?)
Test your muscles by putting a part of your body on the small table to arm wrestle.

Question 14

defeated

Answer 14

负

(ADJ.)

bound up+shellfish
Two oysters engage in shell-to-shell combat, the one who is defeated being bound up by seaweed. The bound shellfish thus becomes the symbol for anyone who has been defeated.

Question 15

ten thousand

Answer 15

万

one+bound up
There’s a one, and then a comma is used in 10,000 to bind up those zeros.

Question 16

uniform

(ADJ.)

Answer 16

匀

bound up+two
“One, two, bind up my shoes” The students tie their shoelaces to the other children’s. This keeps individual students from wandering off so that the teacher can provide a uniform education.

Question 17

sentence

(N.)

Answer 17

句

bound up+mouth
A sentence is a cluster of words bound up in your mouth.

Question 18

decameron

Answer 18

旬

bound up+day
A journey of ten days taken by a band of people-that is, a group of people bound together for the days of the decameron.

Question 19

ladle

Answer 19

勺

bound up+drop
To bind up the drops of punch or soup you scoop the drops up with a ladle. See the last drop left inside the ladle?

Question 20

bull’s eye

Answer 20

的

white bird (white)+ladle
A bull’s eye is painted on an old rusty ladle in the form of a white bird, which lets out a little “peep” every time you hit the target.

Question 21

heads

Answer 21

首

horns+nose (oneself)
A hunting cabin with the heads of deer mounted on the wall, as well as some heads of state. In this character, the horns can’t be left floating free and require an extra horizontal stroke.