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In a high-elevation forest on Jingmai Mountain, dawn broke over a green peak, bathing an ancient tea tree in warm light.
在景迈山一片位于高海拔地区的森林里，绿色的山巅迎来黎明，让一棵古茶树沐浴在晨曦之中。
A four-foot-wide trunk along with enormous branches, stretching up into a canopy of leaves, gave it an imposing bearing -- nothing like the smaller tea shrubs often packed into tight rows on commercial farms throughout China.
它的树干粗壮，树径宽约四英尺，巨大的树枝向上延伸，形成壮观的树冠，一点也不像在中国各地的商业农场所见、通常紧密排列的小型茶树。
But this tree, deep within the southwestern Yunnan Province, was different. And it served a different purpose altogether.
这棵位于云南省西南部深山里的树与众不同，而且它的用途也完全不一样。
A married couple named Ai Rong, 41, and Ke Lanfang, 36, had gathered with their elderly parents in front of the tree, chanting a prayer in the Blang people's language, spoken by the Indigenous community throughout this region where five tea forests -- collectively the oldest and largest on the planet -- are cultivated.
41岁的艾荣与36岁的柯兰芳夫妇，与年迈的父母聚集在树前，用这个地区原住民族布朗族的语言吟诵着祷词，这个地区的五座茶林共同形成世上最古老、也是最大的茶林。
To the untrained eye, the tree might have been merely part of a forest.
外行人可能觉得这棵树跟林中其他树没什么不同。
But for the family, it was the heart of a living shrine: They prayed to their Tea Spirit Tree, asking an ancestor named Pa Aileng, now considered a deity, to deliver a strong harvest.
但对这家人来说，它可是一座活生生的神坛的心脏：他们祭拜他们的茶祖树，祈求如今已经成仙的祖先帕哎冷赐予丰收。
"It's a thousand years old," Ai said proudly, pointing to the tree's large trunk.
“这棵树已经1000岁了。”艾荣指着茶树巨大的树干骄傲地说。
In recent years, however, his faith has seemed to be continually tested.
不过这几年，他的信念似乎不断受到考验。
At a time when the region's highly specialized tea has gained widespread attention, commanding impressive prices, there are ever more unpredictable natural forces to contend with.
当这个地区高度特殊化的茶叶受到广泛关注、价格惊人的时候，他们也必须对抗更多无法预测的自然力量。
Tea is the world's most popular beverage after water.
茶是世上继水之后最多人喝的饮料。
Globally, people drink an estimated 45 billion gallons of it each year in a wide range of styles, from green to black and oolong.
全球人口每年会喝掉大约450亿加仑的茶，种类五花八门，从绿茶、红茶到乌龙茶都有。
While these varieties exist because of different processing techniques, they all originate from the same fundamental ingredient: Camellia sinensis.
虽然不同的茶种是不同加工技术的成果，但都来自相同的基本原料：茶树。
The species of flowering evergreen has traveled the world, most notably when the colonial British brought it to India in the early 19th century.
这种会开花的常绿树已经行遍了全球，尤其是在19世纪早期，英国殖民者将它引入了印度。
