与乔纳森·丁布尔比一起游非洲
After four decades of reporting from the continent, Jonathan Dimbleby returns to Africa on a 7,000-mile journey to discover how it is changing.   【Mali, Ghana and Nigeria】   He starts his African journey in the capital of Mali, Bamako, the fastest-growing African city. Following the course of the Niger river, Dimbleby finds not a continent of beggars but of industrious people, some of whom go to extraordinary lengths to make a living, free-diving 20 feet to excavate building sand.   Travelling north-east, he sees how tradition is preserved in an area where a sophisticated urban society has thrived for 1600 years. Jonathan gets his hands dirty as the apprentice of a 74-year-old mud mason in Djenne, a town built entirely of mud.   In Ghana, one of Africa's freest and most stable countries, Jonathan sees a spectacular festival before playing a game of golf with the King of the Ashanti, who recalls his time working for Brent council. Dimbleby attends the King's court to see what lessons the UK can draw from traditional African structures that promote harmony and reconciliation.   Jonathan discovers that the African brain drain is turning into a brain gain as economic opportunity and patriotism draw people home. Football unites Ghana like nothing else, superseding political and tribal divisions. There is a rich seam of young football talent on the continent in the year that the World Cup is hosted by an African nation for the first time.   In Lagos, Nigeria's business capital, Jonathan Dimbleby sees a different take on a city that is often depicted as a hotbed of violence, crime and corruption. He is taken on a private jet by Africa's richest man, then savours the creative talents of two of African music's rising stars who are helping to cement Lagos's place as the continent's cultural hub.   【Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania】   On the second leg of his illuminating journey across Africa, Jonathan Dimbleby travels 2000 miles through East Africa's Rift Valley.   Starting in Ethiopia, where he was the first journalist to report the 1973 famine, Dimbleby discovers the great strides being made to safeguard the country from future catastrophes.   In Kenya he finds out how mobile phones are revolutionising small businesses and even the lives of Masai tribes.   In Tanzania he joins in a football match with the judges and guards of Africa's own Human Rights Commission and meets the street kids in Dar-es-Salaam who are building an international profile for their music.   【Congo, South Africa and Zambia】   On the final leg of his 7,000-mile odyssey, Jonathan Dimbleby travels from Congo to Durban in search of the stories revealing contemporary Africa.   He learns how China's billion-dollar deals have rebooted African economies, once dependent on Western aid and investment.   Passing through Zambia, Jonathan survives a training session with boxing world champion Esther Phiri and meets Hugh Masekela, who shares with him his view of Africa's emerging revival.
北极熊:冰上侦探
这部名为《北极熊:冰上侦探(Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice)》的纪录片将于29日在英国BBC1电视台播放。   北京时间12月28日消息,野生动物纪录片拍摄人员往往需要绞尽脑汁,不断增加拍摄方法的隐秘性,才能悄悄潜入到他们想要拍摄的动物世界里,窥探它们的一举一动,但是不要认为这些动物都很愚笨,下面的图片就是很好的证明。   获奖导演约翰·唐纳最近把他的遥控间谍相机装扮成一个大雪球,用来追踪一只北极熊母亲带着它的小幼仔穿过挪威斯瓦尔巴特群岛的海冰,寻找海豹的过程。但没想到的是,这种伪装并没能骗过附近的一只成年雄性北极熊的眼睛。它快速追上移动照相机,用大而有力的爪子对眼前的“雪球”进行一番摸索,让唐纳和他的制片人拍了一些特写后,很快把相机砸得粉碎。   但它并没就此罢休,它想都没想,又开始追赶唐纳的另一个价值10万英镑(15.45万美元)的暴风雪相机。这个相机上带有轮子,可以遥控操作,尽管吃了一惊的纪录片拍摄者设法遥控这个昂贵的设备逃跑,但是被激怒的北极熊一直穷追不舍,最后这只体重超过半吨的北极熊把第二个相机也砸得粉碎。   不过幸运的是,唐纳还有另一个相机,它记录了摄影设备遭袭的整个过程。北极熊毁掉两个相机后,慢慢变得平静下来。唐纳说:“好奇心得到满足后,这些动物开始表现正常起来。最终我们的间谍相机显示,北极熊的‘智慧和好奇心’是它们在海冰不断缩小的情况下继续幸存下来的关键。”
地球造人
BBC最新纪录片,讲述地球的力量如何改变了人类的历史。2010年1月19日首播,共播出了5集:'Water','Deep Earth', 'Wind', 'Fire','Human Planet'。节目中,Iain Stewart教授带领观众探究几个世纪以来,地质学、地理学和气候是如何影响人类生活的。   我们的星球拥有惊人的力量,但却很少在教科书中被提起。这个系列节目第一次通过电视展现地球的神奇力量对人类发展的影响。节目将历史故事的讲述和炫目的摄影镜头紧密结合,给我们呈现一幅原汁原味的人类历史图景。   Iain Stewart tells the epic story of how the planet has shaped our history. With   spectacular images, surprising stories and a compelling narrative, the series discovers the central role played in human history by four different planetary forces.   Episode 1: Water   Professor Iain Stewart continues his epic exploration of how the planet has shaped human history. This time he explores our complex relationship with water. Visiting spectacular locations in Iceland, the Middle East and India, Iain shows how control over water has been central to human existence. He takes a precarious flight in a motorised paraglider to experience the cycle of freshwater that we depend on, discovers how villagers in the foothills of the Himalayas have built a living bridge to cope with the monsoon, and visits Egypt to reveal the secret of the pharaohs' success. Throughout history, success has depended on our ability to adapt to and control constantly shifting sources of water.   Episode 2: Deep Earth   Iain Stewart tells the epic story of how the planet has shaped our history. With spectacular images, surprising stories and a compelling narrative, the series discovers the central role played in human history by four different planetary forces. In this first episode, Iain explores the relationship between the deep Earth and the development of human civilisation. He visits an extraordinary crystal cave in Mexico, drops down a hole in the Iranian desert and crawls through seven-thousand-year-old tunnels in Israel. His exploration reveals that throughout history, our ancestors were strangely drawn to fault lines, areas which connect the surface with the deep interior of the planet. These fault lines gave access to important resources, but also brought with them great danger.   Episode 3: Wind   Professor Iain Stewart continues his epic exploration of how the planet has shaped human history. Iain sets sail on one of the fastest racing boats ever built to explore the story of our turbulent relationship with the wind. Travelling to iconic locations including the Sahara desert, the coast of West Africa and the South Pacific, Iain discovers how people have exploited the power of the wind for thousands of years. The wind is a force which at first sight appears chaotic. But the patterns that lie within the atmosphere have shaped the destiny of continents, and lie at the heart of some of the greatest turning points in human history.   Episode 4: Fire   Professor Iain Stewart continues his epic exploration of how the planet has shaped human history. Iain explores man's relationship with fire. He begins by embarking on an extraordinary encounter with this terrifying force of nature - a walk right through the heart of a raging fire. Fire has long been our main source of energy and Iain shows how this meant that the planet played a crucial role in Britain's industrial revolution, whilst holding China's development back. Along the way he dives in a mysterious lake in Oregon, climbs a glacier of salt, crawls through an extraordinary cave in Iran and takes a therapeutic bath in crude oil.   Episode 5: Human Planet   Series in which Professor Iain Stewart looks at how four geological forces have shaped human history. He explores the most recently established force, humans. It's easy to think of the human impact on the planet as a negative one, but as Iain discovers, this isn't always the case. It is clear that humans have unprecedented control over many of the planet's geological cycles; the question is, how will the human race use this power?
与霍金一起了解宇宙
英国著名物理学家史蒂芬•霍金近日发出警告,称外星生物可能真的存在,但是人类与他们接触可能会带来毁灭性的后果。在“探索”频道新近推出的纪录片《与霍金一起了解宇宙》中,霍金指出外星生物在消耗尽自己星球上的资源后便会乘坐大型飞船到他们能够到达的星球掠夺资源,并将那里开拓成为他们的殖民地;如果有外星生物到访地球,那将会像当年意大利航海家哥伦布登陆美洲大陆一样,最后给人类带来毁灭性的灾难。   68岁的霍金在片中谈论了他对宇宙外星生命问题的最新思考。他认为外星生命几乎肯定存在於宇宙的许多其他地方——不仅是活在行星之上,甚至还可能存在於恒星中心,甚或是漂浮於行星间的广阔宇宙。   霍金认为外星人存在的理论依据,超乎寻常的「简单」。他指出,宇宙有1000亿个银河系,每个都包含上亿计恒星,在这样一个庞大空间裏,地球不大可能是唯一演化出生命的行星。「我觉得,纯粹出於数学脑筋去想,单是如此巨大的数字,就足已令『外星人存在』的想法显得完全合理。真正的挑战是,去发现外星人到底是什么样子。」   《与霍金一起了解宇宙》这纪录片耗3年多制作,期间霍金曾多次坚持对剧本作大幅修改。Discovery执行制作人史密森(John Smithson)说:「他希望能制作一个既能娱乐大众、又能娱乐科学界的节目,考虑到其复杂性,这是一项很难的工作。」(简介转自Dexter)
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