within / among / in / middle / center / while (doing sth) / during / (dialect) OK / all right
中
=
丨
+
口
:
Mnemonic symbol: a dart board, because you always try to hit the center.
Julian Giant Squid (zhu-) is throwing dinosaur bones (丨) as darts on a dart board in front of the engine ((e)ng1). To make it a bit more difficult he's throwing mandarins (口) into the air as well and skewers them up right in the center (中 is a mandarin skewered on a dinosaur bone) in mid flight with the dinosaur bones. He's still able to consistently hit the center (中) of the dart board.
国
=
囗
+
玉
:
Mnemonic symbol: a nation's flag. Let's say the Chinese flag.
In the observatory's kitchen (o2) Gitta Giraffe (gu) is practising her ballet performance. She got a whole crate (囗) full of jade bracelets (玉) and flags (国) and fixed one flag to each jade bracelet. This makes a perfect combination for throwing the ring with the flag waving behind it and catching the ring again after a few pirouettes.
to ally / to unite / to join / (poetry) antithetical couplet
联
=
关
+
耳
:
Li Qingzhao (li) invented a machine able to combine (联) her hair into braids, and she is trying it out for the first time in the anthill's kitchen (an2). Just as the machine starts Li Qingzhao realizes it is going to combine both of her ears (耳) into one braid she quickly hits the machine's off button (关).
to close / to join / to fit / to be equal to / whole / together / round (in battle) / conjunction (astronomy) / 1st note of pentatonic scale / old variant of 盒[he2]
In the elevator's kitchen (e2), Hamlet (h) is preparing holiday decorations. He wants to be lazy and cover Halloween as well as Christmas at the same time, so he carved out a mandarin (口) and glued a pointed cap (亼) to its top using a tube of glue (合).
boat / ship / craft / to navigate / to sail / to fly
航
=
亢
+
舟
:
Hamlet (h) decided to run away to sea 13 years ago. Now, having sailed (航) the seven seas, he's an accomplished captain and looking out of his yellow submarine (舟) wearing a turtleneck sweater (亢) in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2).
空
=
工
+
穴
:
In front of the engine, Karl Koala found some very special cave paintings. Using steel beams he constructs a protective cover. He also installs air conditioning to make the best environment possible to preserve the cave paintings.