Yes，the appearance of 互（hu, the forth tone) is strange even for native Chinese，let alone for foreigners！Now, let‘s imagine that 互 is composed of two hooks connecting together.  That looks like ’hand in hand‘.  In China we often say the following phrases:互助（hu-zhu）：to help each other;互敬互爱（hu-jing-hu-ai）：To respect and love each other.互相（hu-xiang）：each other.   (please have a look at my latest thread for more explaining about the word 相.)

Yesterday I noticed that the old form of our familiar Forum had disappeared!  Today I still can't reach it!  That is a pity for bloggers since we can no longer communicate with each other through the message channel.   Too much information from the former website has been lost. Dear reader friends: What is your feeling about it？I am looking forward to getting your feedback remarks！

In English the word 'language' comes from ’lingua‘ according to that dictionary with the latter means ’tongue'. Of course you can't speak without the movement of the tongue.In Chinese we have 语(yu） for language.  What is the relationship between the shape and the meaning of the character? The ancient form of 语 is 語 with the 言（yan) representing ‘words’. ;五 is ‘five' and 口 shapes like the ’mouth'. What has five mouths? Ho, we Chinese draw five holes including two eyes, two nose holes and one mouth for the picture of the face. In ancient China people used ‘吾' to represent ’  I “ or ‘me’. Really the five main organs in the head play an important role for speaking. Now as an English teacher, I think the ears are more important than the nose for language learning since ninety percent of the deaf are dumb.So， a good speaker should have sharp eyes for observation, sensitive ears for listening, and one hard-working mouth for expressing ideas.  For children they do more job on reading and listening for their own speaking. In China there is a sound political term that is 实事求是: Try to find out the truth from the facts.  In other words, you have no right to make any remark on something without seeing or hearing about it.  That is just what the body language of 语 shows! This also reminds me another Chinese phrase 聪明（cong-ming) that means ‘clever’ or ‘wisdom’. In which 耳 refers to ‘ear’ and 总 means ‘summarize’，Yes, the function of the ears is to collect the useful sound signals from the outside world for your upcoming actions;  明 consists of 日（the Sun) and 月 （the Moon) that represents what you see through the eyeballs. Your speech depends on what you have seen and heard.  In the language class we should emphasize the importance of eyes and ears for the actions of the mouth! (The above will be part of my lecture for the newcomers. ）

The Chinese character 防 means ‘to be cautious’. Why? Could you see its  body language?What is the first part of 防(fang)？ The vertical stroke represents the edge of the face while the 3-like thing shapes like one of your ears! Yes, in China we call it ‘ear-component ' for many Chinese characters. Then how to understand 方？ You many take the top dot as the flame of the burning candle which can shoot light in all possible directions. In the maths class the teacher told me: ’From one point you can draw countless lines.‘.  万 means ‘ten thousands’. (In many cases we use it as ‘too many possibilities’.  In general it is why 方 means ‘direction’. When you practise Chinese martial arts，the master will ask you to take care of any attacking from eight directions(耳听八方(The ears can instantly receive danger-signals around. ）My dog has powerful hearing ability. It lies on the ground and its ears can sense your footsteps far away. With the radar-like organs, the pet can do a good  job on defense specially at night. 

Do you believe that the title was a riddle that I invented in the staff office: One of my colleagues was named ‘seagull'(海燕)。 The special structure of 燕 aroused me much interest. I stared at it for minutes then I stroke the riddle as the following: Twenty creatures are going to the north who are in one line!  Please guess it into a Chinese character.  My problem puzzled everyone including Miss Seagull.The top of 燕 is  double  ‘’十"(ten） which certainly means "twenty";Its middle component 口 is 'mouth’ and in many cases it refers to an animal or a man;北 is ‘north’ with each part symbols a kind of ancient weapon. In Chinese traditional culture ‘north’ always represents power and authority;The bottom of 燕 is called ‘four-dot-water’ which symbols ‘hot water or the surface of water’, such as 煮 (cook) , 点 (point). Here I took the dots as the birds in the sky. In late Spring as a routine job the swallows always march to the north. 燕 is the beautiful scenery picture when you look up into the sky when hearing their singing!

A few months before the College Entrance Examination in 1985 everyone worked hard on lessons. I drew a picture of 争(zheng) on the covering-page of the physics textbook.  This chinese word means that you try to get something through competition with others. Its top looks like the head of an elephant（象） and the middle stroke symbols the main part of the body with feet firmly stepping on the ground; The remaining component of 争 seems like a fishing tool which has three sharp ends with a long handle. The powerful ‘trunk' and hunting weapon help you have a good harvest in the upcoming battle.Seeing the one-word slogan, my deskmate drew a conclusion: “You are ambitious！(The above was a draft written months ago. Now I have another explaining to 争.  The horizontal 山-like thing should be your hand with which you have caught an animal. Obviously the scene of 争 shows that there is a bitter struggling between you and the animal. The creature may bite your finger and flee away at any time if you can hold it firmly. That is exactly the meaning of the special Chinese character.  Struggle! )

In my native language there are several characters which mean ‘struggle’. 奋(fen): Its top is 大 which shape looks like a big man stretching out the legs and arms.  田 shapes  like a large piece of farmland that includes ‘four’ fields. The picture of 奋 shows that a man is doing heavy labour work in the field. You can't grow crops well if without paying great strength! 拼(pin）:  Its first part is called '提手旁' (picking-up-hand-component) that really looks like the arm plus the hand with five fingers if you prolong the bottom of its vertical stroke; The right part 并 means ‘put together’.  Everyone has only two hands. What for when you 'bind‘（use） both hands to work？ Obviously you are doing your  best to achieve some goal for which you are ready to pay any price even including life if necessary!  In the movie I saw that  brave soldier holding up the knife high with the hands to fight against several enemies around.  You can imagine his mindset and how hard he was doing at that moment.(To be continued) （To the editor:  I could not post the above onto the language-learning webpage. ）

中国梦婴儿来到这个崭新的世界，那是父母甜甜的梦；我们在仙境中成长，童年里充满神话故事。黑夜里的梦想一个接着一个，那最美的梦应该是太阳从东方的地平线上冉冉升起!我们已经长大成人，生活伴随着更现实的梦；白天拼命劳作，让过去的期盼一个个呈现眼前。太阳给月亮的梦是（朴素的）黑与白，而她给人类的梦却多彩得美如彩虹!因为我们生活在黄河两岸，大家拥有一个共同的理想叫做------‘中国梦’！To tell the truth it took me a long time to finish the translation above even the English version was produced by myself! Now the problem is that I dare not claim it is a real Chinese poem since scholars have strict ‘rulers’ for measurement to judge！For the most it may be called as ‘a modern poem’ which is allowed to go more freely than the ancient ones! I wish so！If you are expert on Chinese language，please display your art work for the original text!

About the main point of the Darwin‘ evolution theory，we have the sharp summary: '适者生存’ (The creatures who can adapt to the environment will survive in the nature. ）Now SEARU‘s saying of ‘迫物变速’’ should be thought as a good conclusion to the Newton's second law on movement. One Chinese character 迫 can also help learners quickly understand the other formulas：W=F*S Work（功）is the existing of such 迫（force）in space-span;Searu always believe that teachers should do lectures in oral words. I remembered that it was failure when I tried to copying professor‘ teaching to the middle school students in early 1990s. So I had to turn the deep theory into plain words plus enough practical tests. In the factory those workers had their own understanding on how the electric motors run in the magic way without fuel-consuming.

Cookery is art. Many people from our village have become experts on cooking. One of them is the boss of the famous restaurant in the county-town whose income is admirable. For average citizens cooking is the basic living skill that activity can make us more clever on thinking and practice! I notice that my three-year-old grand-daughter enjoys playing with kitchen toys. I think students should be taught to cook for the family at home. This is important for their future growth and career. (For me it is too late to recognize the truth above! In 2016 my wife had to leave me for the remote city to look after grandkid. Since then I have been alone to take care of old mother and myself. It took me a long time to fit the situation. Now my cookery can satisfy Mum. ）