returnee, step up, return America to, with no favours to return, in good form, return to form,

After a Humbling Spiral, Kerry Returns to Form
By MARK LEIBOVICH
After some painful losses — the 2004 election, Ted Kennedy’s death — Senator John Kerry is in a position of influence again.

Three Japanese returnees from Wuhan test positive for new coronavirus

Three Japanese who returned from Wuhan on a government-chartered flight have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the health ministry said Thursday, as more Japanese evacuees from the Chinese city ...

The Borowitz Report: "A nation's greatness is measured by its ability to store grain," Ben Carson said. "I will return America to its former greatness."


Rural returnee brings enterprise to sleepy mountain townBY LOUIS TEMPLADO STAFF WRITER

2012/01/21

Nature therapist Kazuaki Tsuchiya has taken a farmhouse in the Okutama area of Tokyo and turned it into a space for yoga classes and business meetings. (Louis Templado)The farmhouse with its high roof was build about 150 years ago. (Louis Templado)

How do you bring life back to a 150-year-old farmhouse? How about opening it to yoga lessons, barbecues, computer classes and, while you're at it, some business conferences around glowing charcoal fire?




While many of the ideas have yet to hit official agendas, officials say there has been a substantial step-up in planning for a closer European fiscal relationship.




How Mr Hatoyama both motivates bureaucrats and punishes them when they step out of line will make or break the DPJ. The crucial battle comes between now and December, in drawing up the budget for the 2010 fiscal year. Ministries have already submitted their spending plans, including pork for favoured groups, hoping for the usual lack of political oversight. The DPJ promises to rebuild the budget-making process from scratch, going through programmes line by line. That, too, is a chance for the new government to show that it is not as profligate as its opponents have claimed.
Japan has had other opportunities for reform, and has failed to take them. Mr Hatoyama, with no favours to return, has a chance both to revolutionise how Japan is governed and to revitalise the economy. He will need judgment for the first, and imagination for the second. Wish him plenty of both.



step up,
(stĕp'ŭp')
adj.

1. Increasing in steps or by stages.
2. Electricity. Serving to increase voltage: a step-up transformer.

n.
An increase in size, amount, or activity.(自)
(1) 上がる, 登る；((略式))近寄る.
(2) （量・度合いが）だんだん上がる.
(3) 昇進する.
(4) 向上［進歩］する.

with no favours to return,

英〕  n. 好意, 親切; 援助; 願いごと; 恩恵, 引立て; えこひいき; 支持（する［される］こと）; 是認; 人気; 〔古〕 書簡; （愛の）贈り物; 記章; （pl.） （女性の）性的魅力; （one's 〜s） （女が男に）身を許すこと.

FORM
n. - 形狀, 形式, 表格
v. tr. - 形成, 塑造, 構成, 構
v. intr. - 成形, 排, 列, 被形成, 開始形成
idioms:

• form feed 換頁
• form letter 信件, 套用信函
• form of address 敬稱
• in good form 狀況良好
• off form 狀態不佳
• on form 根據形式, 狀態良好
• take form 具有看得見的形狀, 思想等的形成, 產生

n.

1. 1. The shape and structure of an object.
   2. The body or outward appearance of a person or an animal considered separately from the face or head; figure.
2. 1. The essence of something.
   2. The mode in which a thing exists, acts, or manifests itself; kind: a form of animal life; a form of blackmail.
3. 1. Procedure as determined or governed by regulation or custom.
   2. A fixed order of words or procedures, as for use in a ceremony; a formula.
4. A document with blanks for the insertion of details or information: insurance forms.
5. 1. Manners or conduct as governed by etiquette, decorum, or custom.
   2. Behavior according to a fixed or accepted standard: Tardiness is considered bad form.
   3. Performance considered with regard to acknowledged criteria: a good jump shooter having an unusual form.
6. 1. Proven ability to perform: a musician at the top of her form.
   2. Fitness, as of an athlete or animal, with regard to health or training.
   3. The past performance of a racehorse.
   4. A racing form.
7. 1. Method of arrangement or manner of coordinating elements in literary or musical composition or in organized discourse: presented my ideas in outline form; a treatise in the form of a dialogue.
   2. A particular type or example of such arrangement: The essay is a literary form.
   3. The design, structure, or pattern of a work of art: symphonic form.
8. 1. A mold for the setting of concrete.
   2. A model of the human figure or part of it used for displaying clothes.
   3. A proportioned model that may be adjusted for fitting clothes.
9. A grade in a British secondary school or in some American private schools: the sixth form.
10. 1. A linguistic form.
    2. The external aspect of words with regard to their inflections, pronunciation, or spelling.
11. 1. Chiefly British. A long seat; a bench.
    2. The resting place of a hare.
12. Botany. A subdivision of a variety usually differing in one trivial characteristic, such as flower color.

v., formed, form·ing, forms. v.tr.

1. 1. To give form to; shape: form clay into figures.
   2. To develop in the mind; conceive: form an opinion.
2. 1. To shape or mold (dough, for example) into a particular form.
   2. To arrange oneself in: Holding out his arms, the cheerleader formed a T. The acrobats formed a pyramid.
   3. To organize or arrange: The environmentalists formed their own party.
   4. To fashion, train, or develop by instruction or precept: form a child's mind.
3. To come to have; develop or acquire: form a habit.
4. To constitute or compose a usually basic element, part, or characteristic of.
5. 1. To produce (a tense, for example) by inflection: form the pluperfect.
   2. To make (a word) by derivation or composition.
6. To put in order; arrange.

v.intr.

1. To become formed or shaped.
2. To come into being by taking form; arise.
3. To assume a specified form, shape, or pattern.

[Middle English forme, from Latin fōrma.]

formability form'a·bil'i·ty n.
formable form'a·ble adj.

SYNONYMS form, figure, shape, configuration, contour, profile. These nouns refer to the external outline of a thing. Form is the outline and structure of a thing as opposed to its substance: a brooch in the form of a lovers' knot. Figure refers usually to form as established by bounding or enclosing lines: The cube is a solid geometric figure. Shape implies three-dimensional definition that indicates both outline and bulk or mass: "He faced her, a hooded and cloaked shape" (Joseph Conrad). Configuration stresses the pattern formed by the arrangement of parts within an outline: The map shows the configuration of North America, with its mountains, rivers, and plains. Contour refers especially to the outline of a three-dimensional figure: I traced the contour of the bow with my finger. Profile denotes the outline of something viewed against a background and especially the outline of the human face in side view: The police took a photograph of the mugger's profile.