Deep in a protected ancient forest in southern Chile sits an enormous tree that has existed for thousands of years. Now the “Great Grandfather” tree could soon be recognized as the world’s oldest tree.

在智利南部一个受保护的古老森林深处，有一棵已经存在了数千年的大树。现在，“曾祖父”树可能很快就会被认定为是世界上最古老的树。

The Great Grandfather (Gran Abuelo), or Alerce Milenario, is a remarkable specimen. It is an alerce tree, a Patagonian Cypress tree from the species Fitzroya cupressoides, which is native to Chile and Southern Argentina. This particular example has a trunk that measures 4 meters in diameter (around 13 feet), and is 28 meters tall and probably started its life at the time when humans were first inventing writing.

这棵“曾祖父(Gran Abuelo)”树，或者叫Alerce Milenario，是一个非凡的品种，来自智利和阿根廷南部的帕塔哥尼亚柏树属。该树树干直径4米(约13英尺)，高28米，可能在人类首次发明文字的时候就已经生长于此。

It is sheltered in a cool, moist ravine that has protected it from various threats – forest fires and loggers – that have cleared away many of its relatives and others of its kind over the years. Now the tree has become wizened and gnarled; it is home to mosses and lichens, as well as smaller trees that have started to grow in its crevices.

它藏身于一个湿度适宜的峡谷中，保护了它免受多种威胁的侵害，例如森林火灾和伐木，多年来，这些威胁已经消灭了许多它的亲戚和其他同类。现在这棵树已经变得干枯多节，成了苔藓和地衣的家园，也有一些小树开始在裂缝中生长出来。

This marvelous survivor is also extremely valuable to science as it may well contain information related to climate change and how the Earth has adapted to changing conditions over the centuries.

这个神奇的幸存者对科学也非常有价值，因为它可能包含与气候变化以及地球如何适应几个世纪以来不断变化的条件有关的信息。

It's a survivor, there are no others that have had the opportunity to live so long, Antonio Lara, a researcher at Austral University and Chile's center for climate science and resilience, told AFP. Lara is part of the team of researchers measuring the tree’s age.

“它是一个幸存者，没有其他动物能活这么久。”南方大学和智利气候科学与恢复中心的研究员安东尼奥·劳拉告诉法新社。劳拉是测量这棵树龄的研究团队的成员之一。

According to Lara's colleague, Jonathan Barichivich, a Chilean environmental scientist who works at the Climate and Environmental Science Laboratory in Paris, Great Grandfather is over 5,000 years old, which makes it a century older than the current title holder - Methuselah, a 4,853 year-old bristlecone pine located in California.

据劳拉的同事、在巴黎气候与环境科学实验室工作的智利环境科学家乔纳森·巴里奇维奇说，“曾祖父”已经有5000多年的历史了，比目前的世界纪录保持者“梅瑟勒”还要老一个世纪，“梅瑟勒”是一棵生长在加州、已有4853年历史的小灰松。