纪录片《文明》 第41期 自视如何（2）

The Olmec left us very few clues.

奥尔梅克人没给我们留下多少线索

But what they did give us is a powerful, in-your-face reminder¹

但他们的确留下了一个直接有力的提示

that, no matter where in the world,

提示我们 无论在这个世界的哪个角落

when civilisations first made art,

当文明第一次出现艺术创作时

they made it about us.

创作都是关于人类自身

I want to explore why that is.

我想探索这种现象的原因

What were those early people doing this for?

那些古人为什么这样做呢

What part did images of the body play

那些社会最初创作的人像

in the societies which first created them?

在社会上扮演了什么角色呢

I'm not just going to be concentrating on the artists--

我不想只关注艺术家

I want to take a different approach.

我想换一个视角

I'll be trying to see these bodies through the eyes of the people

我会尝试从古人的角度观察这些人像

who lived with them, used them, and looked at them.

那些曾一同生活 使用 注视过它们的人

And that's not all.

而这还不是全部

I want to show how one particular way

我想展示一种特殊的

of representing the human body--

描绘人体的技法

one that goes all the way back to ancient Greece--

这技法可以一直追溯到古希腊

became more influential² than any other,

看它是如何比其它任何方法都更具影响力

coming to shape our Western ways of seeing.

以至于决定了我们西方看问题的角度

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。