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A tarn is a small mountain lake — a still pool of water sitting high up in the hills, usually in a hollow scooped out by an ancient glacier, fed by rain and snow rather than by a river running in. They are typically dark, very cold, and quiet.
A tarn is a small mountain laketarn（山中小湖）就是山上的小湖 a still pool of water sitting high up in the hills一池靜靜坐落在山丘高處的水 usually in a hollow scooped out by an ancient glacier通常是古代冰河刮出來的凹地 fed by rain and snow rather than by a river running in水源來自雨雪而不是流進來的河 They are typically dark, very cold, and quiet它們通常又暗、又冷、又安靜
The word belongs strongly to the north of England, especially the Lake District, where dozens of them have 'Tarn' in the name, and to walkers and who go there. It is not a word most English speakers use for a lake near their own home; it is regional and slightly literary, and poets like it for the loneliness it suggests.
The word belongs strongly to the north of England這個字強烈屬於英格蘭北部 especially the Lake District尤其是湖區 where dozens of them have 'Tarn' in the name那裡有好幾十個湖名字裡都有「Tarn」 and to walkers and climbers who go there也屬於去那裡的健行者和登山者 It is not a word most English speakers use for a lake near their own home大部分英語人士不會用這個字來說自己家附近的湖 it is regional and slightly literary它是地方性的、有點文學味的字 and poets like it for the loneliness it suggests詩人喜歡用它，因為它帶有一種孤寂感
If a student sees 'tarn' in a text, the writer is almost always painting a picture of high wild empty country, not just naming a body of water.
If a student sees 'tarn' in a text如果學生在文章裡看到「tarn」 the writer is almost always painting a picture of high wild empty country作者幾乎都是在描繪高處、荒野、空曠的鄉野景象 not just naming a body of water而不只是在指一個水域的名稱
組成From Middle English 'terne', from Old Norse 'tjǫrn', a small lake with no streams running into it — the Vikings settled the north of England, which is why the word survives mainly there. Related words are still alive in the Nordic languages: Icelandic 'tjörn', Norwegian 'tjern', Swedish 'tjärn'.
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Tarnname
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A department of Occitania, France. Capital and largest city: Albi (INSEE code 81).
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A right tributary of the Garonne in southwestern France, flowing through the departments of Lozère, Aveyron, Tarn, Haute-Garonne and Tarn-et-Garonne.
tarnnoun/tɑːn/
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A small mountain lake, especially in Northern England.
- Thou Wind, that ravest without, / Bare craig, or mountain-tairn, or blasted tree, / Or pine-grove whither woodman never clomb, / Or lonely house, long held the witches' home, / Methinks were fitter instruments for thee, / Mad Lutanist! [footnote: Tairn is a small lake, generally if not always applied to the lakes up in the mountains, and which are the feeders of those in the valleys.[…]]
- It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene [of the House of Usher], of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down—but with a shudder even more thrilling than before—upon the re-modelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.
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One of many small mountain lakes or ponds.
- It [the caribou] makes a fine, bold study on the foreground of an evening scene among the mountain tarns of Northern Idaho, as it fulfils the ideal description of the stag given by [Walter] Scott and other writers.
- Have you ever been swimming in glacial water – water turned milky blue or deep maroon by minerals and deposits seized by the glacier as it ponderously made its way across a continent? You would have been high atop a mountain, maybe in the Canadian Rockies or in Montana, where glaciers, now in retreat, still press down on the earth's crust. And it would have been in the summer – late August perhaps – the sun warm and still and bright, making you feel as if a dip in this remote glacial tarn is just what your tired body needs at this point in your day.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。