Colorful stories, again: "Civilisations"
① Almost half a century after Kenneth Clark's ground-breaking television series about the history of Western art helped to popularise colour television, the BBC's remake begins airing on Thursday (a different version will be broadcast in America on PBS from April 17th).
② The update of the series is far more ambitious.
③ Three years in the making and filmed in 31 countries, it features sweeping drone footage to help show off the art works under discussion.
④ Simon Schama, Mary Beard and David Olusoga—each a historian with a particular speciality—present their own episodes.
⑤ Among other themes, they focus on how the nude became the hallmark of Western art, the meaning of colour in India and its absence in the war-time paintings of Francisco Goya, and how different cultures borrowed from one another during colonial encounters in countries ranging from Mexico to Mali.
⑥ Expect to be surprised as well as enchanted.
▍生词好句
civilisation/civilization /ˌsɪvɪlʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/: n. 文明
ground-breaking /ˈɡraʊn(d)breɪkɪŋ/: adj. 先锋性的；开创性的
remake /ˈriːmeɪk/: n. 翻拍；重制
air /ɛː/: vi. 播放；播出
on air: 正在播出
in the air: 悬而未决
series /ˈsɪəri:z/: n. 剧集；系列
in the making: 制作（the process of developing or being made）
drone /drəʊn/: n. 无人机
footage /ˈfʊtɪdʒ/: n. 影片片段
nude /njuːd/: n. 裸体
hallmark /ˈhɔ:lmɑ:k/: n. 标志；特征
range from /reɪn(d)ʒ/: 从……到……的范围
enchant /ɪnˈtʃɑ:nt, ɛnˈtʃɑ:nt/: vt. 使着迷
▍相关背景介绍
Civilisation:
《文明的轨迹》，英国 BBC 1969年首播，通过艺术呈现历史观点（也通过艺术作品的展示，来给彩色电视做了广告）
Kenneth Clark:
艺术史学家，BBC 1969年版 Civilisation 的编剧及主持人
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster.
Simon Schama:
Simon Michael Schama is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University, New York.
Mary Beard:
Winifred Mary Beard is an English scholar and classicist. The New Yorker characterises her as "learned but accessible".
David Olusoga:
David Adetayo Olusoga is a British Nigerian historian, writer and broadcaster. He has presented a number of historical documentaries on the BBC and contributed to The One Show and The Guardian.
Francisco Goya:
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era.