Here’s how the passage breaks down, along with extra comments:
目覚まし時計が鳴って、まゆみは目を覚ましました。
Mezamashidokei ga natte, Mayumi wa me o samashimashita.
When the alarm clock went off, Mayumi woke up.
目覚まし時計 (mezamashidokei: alarm clock)
eyes + to wake up + clock (last 2 chars.)So an alarm clock makes the eyes wake up! Note that “clock” is tokei, voiced here to become dokei. The compound 時計 breaks down as time + gauge, which is a pretty cool way of thinking of a clock! The to of tokei is a special reading, not an official one.
鳴 (na(ru): to sound, to ring)
When this kanji has the yomi of na(ru), it means “to sound, to ring.” With the yomi of na(ku), it refers to the crying, chirping, yelping, howling, meowing, or ululating (!) of animals. That’s the original meaning of this kanji. When it comes to crying humans, na(ku) is still the yomi, but the kanji changes to 泣! Not sure what the kanji is for humans who ululate!
目 (me: eye)
覚 (sa(masu): to wake up)Did you catch the repetition of ましまし (mashimashi) inside さましました (samashimashita)?
夢の中での出来事をよく覚えていました。
Yume no naka de no dekigoto o yoku oboete imashita.
She remembered her dream well.
夢 (yume: dream)
中 (naka: middle)In this sentence we have 夢の中 (yume no naka: in a dream). If we remove the の, we produce a compound we’ve seen before:
夢中 (muchū: rapture, absorption, intentness; in a trance) dream + to be absorbed in
Both of the yomi, part of the breakdown, and the overall meaning have changed significantly.
出来事 (dekigoto: events)
to come into being (1st 2 chars.) + incidentThe initial kanji, 出来, break down as to arise + to come.
覚 (obo(eru): to remember, bear in mind, learn, feel, experience)
亡くなった姉と覚しい人が、目が覚めるような赤い洋服を
着ていました。
Nakunatta ane to oboshii hito ga, me ga sameru yōna akai yōfuku o kite imashita.
A woman in a bright red dress had resembled Mayumi’s dead elder sister.
This shape appears inside several other kanji, where it contributes the sense of dying. Check the link for those.
姉 (ane: elder sister)
覚 (obo(shii): looking like, apparently)
人 (hito: person)
目が覚めるような赤い (me ga sameru yōna akai: bright red) eyes + to wake up + redThe construction 目が覚めるような plus a color means a bright version of that color. It’s like (よう) the color wakes up (覚める) the eyes (目)!
洋服 (yōfuku: Western-style clothes) West + clothes
着 (ki(ru): to wear)
覚えずも涙が出そうになりました。
Oboezu mo namida ga desō ni narimashita.
Involuntarily, Mayumi felt tears well up in her eyes.
覚 (obo(ezu): involuntarily, unwittingly, in spite of oneself)
涙 (namida: tears)In this character, we have the water radical,
, plus 戻 (modo(ru): to return). So … a tear is water that returns?! No, unfortunately, Henshall says that the 戻 component contributes sound, not meaning (or not a clear meaning).
出 (de(ru): to come out)
, plus 戻 (modo(ru): to return). So … a tear is water that returns?! No, unfortunately, Henshall says that the 戻 component contributes sound, not meaning (or not a clear meaning).その時、まゆみはとても姉を慕っていたのだと覚りました。
Sono toki, Mayumi wa totemo ane o shitatte ita no da to satorimashita.
At that moment, she realized that she loved her sister dearly.
時 (toki: time)
姉 (ane: elder sister)
慕 (shita(u): to love dearly)
覚 (sato(ru): to realize)
夢という幻覚から覚めて、いつもよりも嗅覚や聴覚などの
感覚が冴え、世界が目覚しく思えました。
Yume to iu genkaku kara samete, itsumo yorimo kyūkaku ya chōkaku nado no kankaku ga sae, sekai ga mezamashiku omoemashita.
When Mayumi woke up from this dream, from this illusion, she felt that her senses (of smell, of hearing, etc.) had come awake and that the world now seemed spectacular.
夢 (yume: dream)
幻覚 (genkaku: illusion, vision) illusion + to perceive
覚 (sa(meru): to wake up)
いつもより (itsumo yori(mo): more than usual)
嗅覚 (kyūkaku: sense of smell) to smell + senseThe first kanji here is not a Jōyō character, so Henshall doesn’t include it. That’s too bad, because I see that 嗅 contains mouth (口) and 臭 (kusa(i), nio(i): stinking), so I’d love to know the etymology.
聴覚 (chōkaku: sense of hearing) to listen + sense
The first kanji has the same kun-yomi as 聞 (ki(ku): to listen, hear), and some people use them interchangeably. But others choose 聴 to convey a sense of “listening with attention,” using 聞 when they mean “to hear.”
感覚 (kankaku: sense) to feel + sense
冴 (sa(eru): to be vivid)This kanji contains the ice radical,
1. 冴 can make colors bright, as in 冴えた色 (saeta iro: bright color, to be bright + color).
2. 冴 can mean “to be wide awake.” That’s true in the expression 眼が冴える (me ga saeru: to be wide awake, eyeball + to be wide awake).
, which seems surprising until you realize that 冴 can mean “to be crystal clear (as on an ice-cold winter night).” This character happens to have two things in common with 覚:世界 (sekai: world) world + world
目覚ま (mezama(shii): brilliant, splendid, striking)
eyes + to wake upIt seems that alarm clocks, bright colors, and brilliant things all wake up the eyes.
思 (omo(eru): to seem)
