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form
[fC:m]
n.
形狀, 形態, 外形, 表格, 形式
v.
形成, 構成, 排列, (使)組成
form
form
AHD:[fôrm]
D.J.[f%8rm]
K.K.[f%rm]
n.（名詞）
The shape and structure of an object.
形狀：物體的樣子和構造
The body or outward appearance of a person or an animal considered separately from the face or head; figure.
形體，身材：動物或人除臉或頭外的身體或外貌；身材
The essence of something.
本質：某物的本質
The mode in which a thing exists, acts, or manifests itself; kind:
形式，種類：某物存在、運作、顯現的方式；種類：
a form of animal life; a form of blackmail.
動物的生活方式；恐嚇的方式
Procedure as determined or governed by regulation or custom.
步驟：由規則或習俗確定或支配的程序
A fixed order of words or procedures, as for use in a ceremony; a formula.
儀式：一種固定的次序或程序，用于儀式等
A document with blanks for the insertion of details or information:
表格：留有空格供填寫具體情況或信息的文書：
insurance forms.
保險表格
Manners or conduct as governed by etiquette, decorum, or custom.
舉止：由禮節、禮儀或習俗支配的舉止或行為
Behavior according to a fixed or accepted standard:
行為：合乎固定或認可標準的行為：
Tardiness is considered bad form.
拖拉被認為是一種不良行為
Performance considered with regard to acknowledged criteria:
表現：以公認技術為評判標準的表現：
a good jump shooter having an unusual form.
表現與眾不同的優秀跳投者
Proven ability to perform:
水平，狀態：已知的表現能力：
a musician at the top of her form.
水平處于頂峰的音樂家
Fitness, as of an athlete or animal, with regard to health or training.
狀態：與健康或訓練有關的運動員或動物的競技狀態
The past performance of a racehorse.
賽馬過去的表現
A racing form.
賽馬成績記錄表
Method of arrangement or manner of coordinating elements in literary or musical composition or in organized discourse:
形式：有規則地將文字、樂章或推理要素排列起來的方式：
presented my ideas in outline form; a treatise in the form of a dialogue.
用提綱的形式表現我的想法；對話形式的論文
A particular type or example of such arrangement:
體裁：這種排列的特定類型或實例：
The essay is a literary form.
散文是一種文字體裁
The design, structure, or pattern of a work of art:
結構：一件藝術的設計、結構或模式：
symphonic form.
交響曲
A mold for the setting of concrete.
模板：澆注混凝土的模板
A model of the human figure or part of it used for displaying clothes.
人體模型：人體或部分人體支架模型，用于展示服裝
A proportioned model that may be adjusted for fitting clothes.
可調整大小比例的模型：與人體相稱的，常可調整的模型，以適用各種服裝
A grade in a British secondary school or in some American private schools:
年級：指英國中學或美國一些私立學校中的年級：
the sixth form.
六年級
A linguistic form.
語型：一種語言學形式
The external aspect of words with regard to their inflections, pronunciation, or spelling:
字的形式變化：因詞形、發音或拼寫變化的一個詞的不同形體之一：
verb forms.
動詞詞形
Chiefly British A long seat; a bench.
【多用于英國】 長椅子；長板凳
The resting place of a hare.
野兔的棲息地點
Botany A subdivision of a variety usually differing in one trivial characteristic, such as flower color.
【植物學】 分類：通常有細微特性區別的種屬的再分，如花色的再分
v.（動詞）
formed， *， forms
*.（及物動詞）
To give form to; shape:
做成；成形：
form clay into figures.
將泥土捏成泥像
To develop in the mind; conceive:
想出：在腦海中形成；想象：
form an opinion.
形成想法
To shape or mold (dough, for example) into a particular form.
塑造：將（面團等）塑造或澆鑄成一特殊形狀
To arrange oneself in:
成形：讓自己形成：
Holding out his arms, the cheerleader formed a T. The acrobats formed a pyramid.
啦啦隊長伸出手臂做成T形；雜技演員們形成一座金字塔
To organize or arrange:
組織或安排：
The environmentalists formed their own party.
環境保護主義者組成了自己的團體
To fashion, train, or develop by instruction or precept:
造成，形成：通過指導或訓導形成、訓練或發展：
form a child's mind.
造就孩子的想法
To come to have; develop or acquire:
養成：養成；發展或獲得：
form a habit.
養成習慣
To constitute or compose a usually basic element, part, or characteristic of.
構成：組成或作為…通常的基本要素、成分或特性
To produce (a tense, for example) by assuming an inflection:
形成：通過采用曲折變化構成（如時態）：
form the pluperfect.
構成過去完成時
To make (a word) by derivation or composition.
衍生：用派生法或復合法構（詞）
To put in order; arrange.
排列；整理
*.（不及物動詞）
To become formed or shaped.
形成或成型
To come into being by taking form; arise.
出現：以顯現某種形式的方式產生；出現
To assume a specified form, shape, or pattern.
具有特殊的形態：排成一定形式、形狀或模式
Middle English forme
中古英語 forme
from Latin f½a
源自 拉丁語 f½a
form”abil“ity
n.（名詞）
form“able
adj.（形容詞）
form， figure， shape， configuration， contour， profile
These nouns refer to the external outline of a thing.
這些名詞指的是一個物體的外部曲線。
Form is the outline and structure of a thing as opposed to its substance:
Form 是相對于一個物體本質而言的某物的外形和構造：
stalactites of curious forms;
形狀奇異的鐘乳石；
a garden in the form of a lovers' knot.
同心結狀的花園。
Figure refers usually to form as established by bounding or enclosing lines:
Figure 常指按照限定或圍起的線條成形：
The cube is a solid geometric figure.
立方體是一個牢固的幾何圖形。
“Europe is disclosed as a prone and emaciated figure, the Alps shaping like a backbone, and the branching mountain chains like ribs, the peninsular plateau of Spain forming a head” (Thomas Hardy).
“歐洲象一個前傾而憔悴的人，阿爾卑斯山脈象他的脊椎，支脈象肋骨，西班牙的半島高原則形成頭” （托馬斯·哈代）。
Shape implies three-dimensional definition that indicates both outline and bulk or mass:
Shape 含有立體的概念，指輪廓和體積：
“Rowing [at night] , he faced her, a hooded and cloaked shape” (Joseph Conrad).
“劃船時 ，他面對著她，一個戴頭巾，斗篷的模樣” （約瑟夫·康拉德）。
Configuration stresses the pattern formed by the arrangement of parts within an outline:
Configuration 強調在輪廓內將幾部分排列起形成的模型：
The map shows the configuration of the North American continent, with its mountains, rivers, and plains.
地圖描繪出北美大陸的地形以及它的山脈、河流和平原。
Contour refers especially to the outline of a three-dimensional figure:
Contour 尤指一個立體物的輪廓：
I ran my finger along the soft, curving contour of the child's cheek.
我撫摸著孩子柔和、輪廓深刻的面頰。
Profile denotes the outline of something viewed against a background and especially the outline of the human face in side view:
Profile 指在某背景之下顯現出的輪廓，尤指人的側面像：
We glimpsed the profile of the church steeple against the last glow of the sunset.
我們瞥見在最后的晚霞的襯托下的教堂尖頂。
The profile of the old warrior was characterized by a strong jaw and an aquiline nose.
老戰士側面像的特征是一個堅硬的下巴和一個鷹鉤鼻。
form
來自拉丁詞forma
form,figure,shape這三個名詞的一般含義為“形狀”或“外形”。
是個最普通、使用范圍最廣、含義最多的詞，哲學上講的“形態”，文藝上講的“體裁”，雕刻藝術上講的“形狀”，以及普通含義的“方式”或“形式”等，它都可以表示。
此外，form也可以表示人或動物的“體形”、“外形”
Convinced of the importance of education, modern states "invest"in institutions of learning to get back "interest"in the form of a large group of enlighted young men and women who are potential leaders.
現代國家由于確信教育的重要性， 才向教育機構“投資”，以期獲得一大批有知識的男女青年的形式收回“利息”，這些青年是潛在的領導人。
Strange forms stand in gardens, and outside buildings and shops.
花園里、建筑物和商店外面豎立著奇形怪狀的雕塑形體。
My friend fails to mention the long and friendless winter evenings which are interrupted only by an occasional visit to the local cinema——virtually the only form of entertainment.
我的朋友沒提到那漫長而寂寞的隆冬寒夜，而打破這寒夜寂寞的只有偶爾去當地電影院看看電影——實際上此乃唯一的娛樂形式。
figure可以表示隱約可見的“人影”或“物影”、幾何“圖形”、人體“外形”、引人注目的人物或塑像等
In the torchlight he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recongnized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer.
在手電光下他看到一個人影，他立刻認出這個人是本地雜貨商比爾·威爾金斯。
With mother earning and his elder children drawing substantial wages father is seldom the dominant figure that he still was at the beginning of the century.
由于母親掙錢和大孩子也拿相當的工資，父親很少再象本世紀初那樣是一家之主了。
shape 也可以表示“外形”或“形狀”以及人物體形。
The bridge is so long that the shape of the earth had to be taken into account by its designer. 橋身如此的長，以致于它的設計師不得不考慮地球的形狀。
注：shape 的內涵是：外形之下具有實體。
如上一例中shape之“形”包含有地球這個實體。
再看下面的例句
Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began ariving at the factory.
不久，大大小小各種形狀的餅干開始送到這個工廠。
…animal shapes ablaze with red and gold and blue,…
各種獸形神像閃耀著紅色、金黃色、藍色……，
And the senstive observer of sculpture must learn to feel shape simply as shape, not as description or reminiscence.
雕塑品的敏銳觀賞家必須學會把形體當作形體去感覺，而不當作描述或聯想去感覺。
這三個詞的含義差異可以從它們表示的人體外形的差異上來進行辨析。
form所指的“人體外形”在意義上很含糊，只是能夠認出，但未必看得仔細或看得清楚。
What he saw seemed to have the form of a man.
他所看到的似乎是一個男子的身影。
(之所以沒看仔細，可能是觀察者坐在窗口，那身影一晃而過。
)
figure 在表示“人體外形”時通常因黑暗而看不清楚，即“人影”，在表示“體形”時與shape的差別在于：figure只強調身體的輪廓，shape既包括軀體輪廓也包含有血有肉的身體。
由于form僅表示可以辨認出的人體外形，所以裁縫店里的服裝模特兒被稱為the dress-maker's form; 由于figure強調人體輪廓，所以“她的體形很優美”可以說：She has a very good figure:由于shape既包含輪廓又包含有血有肉的身體，所以“她的身段很好看，但她的女仆一點身段都沒有。
”可以說：She has a very good shape,but her maid has no shape at all. 基于上面的討論琲n the form of…，in the figure of…,in the shape of 這三個短語雖然都表示“以……的形式(狀)”，但第一個短語強調可以認出的形式(狀)，第二個短語強調輪廓，第三個短語強調實體，如entertainment in the form of opera(以戲劇形式的娛樂)； to cut apiece of paper in the figure of a triangle(把紙剪成三角形)；to form a mass of clay in the shape of a man(把一堆粘土塑造成男人的形狀)。
in shape 表示的“在外形上”，用于具有實體的事物，而in form 表示的“在形式上”或“在外形上”用于抽象的、無實體的事物
That is perhaps why sculpture has been described as the most difficult of all arts;certainly it is more difficult than arts which involve appreciation of flat forms, shape in only two dimensions.
人們把雕塑說成是一切藝術中最困難的，可能就是這個道理。
當然，它比起只涉及平面形態，即二維形態的藝術品要困難些。
