⊙ 文宁。所谓表意，就是通过字形的设计来显示字义。这种字形 汉 设计即所谓“结构”·象形、指事、会意、形声。因为不同的结 字 构具有不同的表示字义的方式，所以说明结构.以方使读者对汉 的 字意义用法的理解掌握，也是木书所注重的另一方面。 世 界 源流梳理 导 汉字的意义一般都比较丰富，一宁多义的现象极为普遍。 读 与其他民族语言义字所不同的是，汉字的一字多义，一般都没有 形式（如性、数、格之类）变化来加以区分，所以增加了认识和记 忆的难度。而在另一方面，一个文字的多个意义之间，却每每是 以逻辑引出关系维系起来的，只要领悟这种逻辑引申关系，即可 大大提高人们对复杂字义的理解和认识水平。据此，本书十分 重视对汉字的多个义项作源流分析，揭示其逻辑演化的历程，从 而帮助读者通过这种逻辑联系来识记汉字。 可以肯定，只要读者在阅读本书的过程中，充分注意上述体 例要点的作用，就一定能够大大提高阅读效率。 2
⊙ 汉 字 的 Introduction 世 界 This is a Chinese English bilingual handbook which ex- plains the origin and modern use of Chinese characters writ- 读 ten for readers who learn Chinese either as a foreign language or as the mother tongue. The characteristics of this book can be summarized as fol- lows: CulturaL-based Analysis A particular character set is always closely rooted into particular cultural background.Therefore,the difficulties people met in learning Chinese characters are unnecessarily from the characters themselves,but are often from the rele- vant cultural background which supports the graphic forma- tions,pronunciations and meanings of tbe characters.Chinese characters enjoy a long history.Most corresponding historical backgrounds,with which ordinary people are unfamiliar,have vanished for long.So in the explanation and analysis of the character,we stress on the relevant cultural background to help the readers to grasp them easily and in depth. Radical Cross-linking Unlike other characters or letters,radicals are important semantic classifiers in the system of Chinese characters.Radj- 3
cals not only serve as the indexing tool but also are the com- 汉 mon semantic symbols of one series of characters.So in the 字 book we emphasize on both the analysis of radicals and the 的 governing function of the radicals on certain group of charac- 世 界 ters,to help the readers to draw inferences from onc instance and have a systematic understanding of Chinese characters. 导 诗 Structural Analysis Unlike alphabetical lctters,Chinese characters arc charac- terized by its ideograph featurc.The so-called ideographs are those that can reveal the meaning of characters by their graph- ic formations.The graphic formations are known as "struc- tures” pictographic,indicative.associative and picto-pho- netic structures.As different structures reveal the meanings differently,we analyzed the structures of all characters dis- cussed in this book to facilitate the understanding. Origin Pursuit Chinese characters are abundant in meanings and most characters are polysemic.Unlike other languages,Chinese characters have no formal variations (such as gender.number, and case)to discriminate among different meanings one char- acter has,which makes it more difficult to recognize and mem- orize.On the other hand,many meanings of one character of- ten have logical interrelations.()nce these interrelations are comprehended,the complicated meanings of characters are easy to understand.Therefore.we pursue the origin of pol- ysemic charactcrs and reveal the process of their evolution, 4 which,we believe,will be of great help to the readers in their
mcmorizing characters. ⊙ As long as these points are paid cnough attention,the 汉 readers wilt certainly have a high efficiency in their reading. 字 的 世 界 导 读
⊙ 汉 字 的 汉字概论 世 界 作：为一本汉子教学读物，术书不避免地要涉及…些汉了 学女业方丽的专业知识甚至术语（尽答我们心经作了充分的通 俗化努力)，而这些专业知识及术语，显然是般读者所不熟悉 的，因此，在这里将这些内容问读者作一番通俗简明的介绍，或 论 许并不多余。 一、汉字发展史 汉字是世界上最古老的文字之-一。它的历史究竟有多长， 目前还是一个有争议的问题，但股商制代（约前14…约前11 世纪)的骨文已是一种非常成熟的成体系的文字，这表明汉字 至少已有3300多年的历史，· 甲骨文甲骨文是-一种契刻在龟甲兽骨上的文字，主要是 股王室的占卜记录。般代统治者非常迷信、凡事大都要以占卜 来判断吉凶。龟甲兽骨则是他用来占卜的材料。-一般是先在 甲骨的背面凿出一些小坑，再用火灼烤小坑，使甲骨表面因受热 而爆裂，产生裂纹（即“兆”），占卜者就根据“兆”的形态来判断吉 凶。在这种占卜过程中，占卜者把占人的事由、吉凶、应验与否 等情况契刻在甲骨上，这使是所谓中骨文。甲骨文的字形比较 忠实地描墓事物的形象，具有一定的图画性特征：但出子以契刻 作为书写方式，线条比较细硬方直(1)。 金文几乎与甲骨文同时，殷人就有在青铜器上.铸铭文的 风气。上古称青铜为“金”.所以后来人创就将青铜器铭文称为 “金文”。金文虽然殷代已经产生.但鼎盛时期却在甲骨文基本