DEEP DIVES

Roaming the taiga forests of Minecraft is a deeply relaxing experience. The ferns, the foxes, the... OW! Oh yes, the sweet berry bushes. But there’s one biome where the ancient evergreen trees reach even higher into the sky. It’s the old growth taiga, and it’s our biome of the month.
在 Minecraft 的针叶林间散步可以很好地放松身心。那里有蕨类、有狐狸……噢！还有甜浆果丛。但是其中有一个生物群系，里面生长着古老长青的参天大树。那就是原始针叶林，我们的本月群系。

The first sighting players got of the old growth taiga biome was in 2013, in a tweet from Jens, and it was added to the game in the Update That Changed the World later that year – initially called “Mega Taiga”. Mega taiga then got renamed to giant tree taiga in 2018, and finally in late 2021 we renamed it again – to old growth taiga.
在 2013 年 Jens 发的一条推文中，广大玩家第一次领略到原始针叶林的风光。这片生物群系后随同年晚些时候发布的“改变世界的更新”加入到了游戏，最开始时被称为 Mega Taiga，2018 年改名为 giant tree taiga（巨型针叶林）。最终我们于 2021 年末将其改名为 old growth taiga（原始针叶林）。

The name isn’t really important, though. What’s important is what you can find there. Most of the landscape is covered by magnificent spruce trees, many of which are 2x2 blocks wide. These enormous spruces sit in a soil of podzol and coarse dirt, dotted with mossy cobblestone boulders, mushrooms, sweet berry bushes, grass and ferns. One variant of the biome contains pointier pines, rather than standard spruce.
名字其实不是重点，重要的是这里面能找到些什么东西。这个群系的绝大部分地表密布着 2x2 格宽的大型云杉。巨大的云杉木在灰化土和砂土组成的土壤之上生长，周围还遍布着生苔的巨石、蘑菇、甜浆果丛、草丛和蕨等。它还有一个变种，但里面生长着的不是普通的云杉，而是尖顶的松树。

Wolves, foxes and rabbits roam between the trees, and you’ll also find many of the regular passive mobs – sheep, pigs, chicken and cows. This, combined with the widespread availability of wood and food makes it a great place to set up home. Unfortunately, you’ll also come across spiders, zombies, skeletons, creepers, and various other nasties at night. Keep an eye out!
林间常有狼、狐狸和兔子活动，同时也能找到许多友好生物，比如绵羊、猪、鸡和牛。加之这里的木材和食物相当丰富，不失为一个安家的好地方。美中不足的是这里晚上也会有蜘蛛、僵尸、骷髅、苦力怕等讨厌鬼出没。所以一定要留点神！

In the real world, most forests are actively harvested for wood and there are very few places where evergreen trees have lain undisturbed for the centuries it takes for them to reach full size. Most of these untouched trees can be found in two countries – Canada and Russia, which both have large areas of forest without any human disturbance.
在现实世界中，大部分森林都常被用来索取木材，很少有常绿树能免受人为干扰，耗上几个世纪的时光来获得完全的生长。这类自由生长的树木大多集中在加拿大和俄罗斯，这两个国家有着大片丝毫不受人类活动干扰的林区。

These old-growth forests tend to be a wild mix of large trees, dead trees – both standing and fallen – and plenty of debris on the forest floor. Many are vulnerable to forest fires, which is an increasing problem, though a few tree species actually require frequent surface fires to clear out the underbrush and free up valuable nutrients.
这些原始森林里基本都包含有大树、枯树（枯树也分立起的和倒下的）和地面上的大量树木残骸。很多树木易受森林火灾影响，尽管某些树种时常需要依靠地表火灾来清除掉灌木丛，并释放出珍贵的养料，但森林火灾这个问题依然是相当严重的。

Most importantly, though, is the role that these ancient forests play in ecosystems. Old-growth forests are often home to many rare and threatened species, with high biodiversity. They also store huge amounts of carbon – both in the trees and below ground – making them a vital tool in preventing climate change.
最为紧要的还是这些古森林在生态系统中的地位。原始森林通常会是许多受威胁稀有物种的家园，生物多样性极高。森林里的树木和地底还贮藏着大量的碳份，是对抗气候变化的有力工具。

So let’s try to keep them around, yeah?
所以我们还是应该好好珍惜这些森林，对吧？




【橄榄Chan（aka Olvcpr423）译自官网 2022 年 07 月 28 日发布的 Around the Block Old Growth Taiga；原作者 Duncan Geere】
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