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.
叶
=
十
+
口
:
Maud Younger (y) practised a trick shot all day in the elevator's bathroom (e4). She's now able to throw a leaf (叶) high in the air, then quickly throw a mandarin (口) and beat the mandarin with a cross (十) like a baseball with a bat so that the mandarin rips a hole right into the leaf.
leaf / page / lobe / (historical) period / classifier for small boats
叶
=
十
+
口
:
Maud Younger (y) practised a trick shot all day in the elevator's bathroom (e4). She's now able to throw a leaf (叶) high in the air, then quickly throw a mandarin (口) and beat the mandarin with a cross (十) like a baseball with a bat so that the mandarin rips a hole right into the leaf.