namely / that is / i.e. / prompt / at once / at present / even if / prompted (by the occasion) / to approach / to come into contact / to assume (office) / to draw near
即
=
卩
+
艮
:
Just inside the entrance to the space station, Joan of Arc babysits the baby seal. Joan of Arc blows big bubbles of chewing gum, and to one of them she attached a controller. With the controller the baby seal can control in which direction the bubble floats, which it does promptly.
to rise / to flourish / to become popular / to start / to encourage / to get up / (often used in the negative) to permit or allow (dialect) / maybe (dialect)
兴
=
⺍
+
一
+
八
:
Mnemonic symbol from the shape of the character: a sea star. Xi shi (xi) and a sea star (⺍) have a strong desire (兴) to smoke catnip (⺍) through a flute (一), so they hide in the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4) to crush the catnip with an eight-ball (八) and smoke it. Shortly afterwards they relax and loose all their excitement (兴) and interest in anything (兴).
之
=
丶
+
Z
:
Mnemonic symbol: Sooo sleepy... "zZz" (the character looks like a "Z"). James II of England (zh) fell asleep in front of the space station (Ø1). He sleeps on a big petal leaf (丶), making loud "zZz" (之) sounds.
to do; to engage in / to write; to compose / to pretend; to feign / to regard as; to consider to be / to be; to act the part of / to feel (itchy, nauseous etc) / writings; works
作
=
乍
+
亻
:
Rosa Luxemburg (亻) and Zapatista Zebra (zu) are high-fiveing in the observatory's bathroom (o4) because they're growing so awesome Mohawk (乍) haircuts.