第十三篇The Barbie Dolls带翻译

第十三篇：The Barbie Dolls

In the mid-1940's, the young ambitious duo Ruth and Elliot Handler, owned a company that made wooden pictures frames. It was in 1945 that Ruth and Elliot Handler joined with their close friend Harold Mattson to form a company that would be known for the most famous and successful doll ever created. This company would be named MATTEL, MATT for Mattson ,and EL for Elliot1.

In the mid-1950's, while visiting Switzerland, Ruth Handler purchased a German Lilli doll. Lilli was a shapely2, pretty fashion doll first made in 1955.She was originally fashioned after a famous cartoon character in the West German Newsletter, Build.

Lilli is the doll that would inspire Ruth Handler to design the Barbie doll. With the help of her technicians and engineers at Mattel, Barbie was born. Ruth then hired Charlotte Johnson, a fashion designer, to create Barbie's wardrobe. It was in 1958 that the patent for Barbie was obtained. This would be a fashion doll unlike any of her time. She would be long limbed ,shapely , beautiful ,and only 11.5 inches tall. Ruth and Elliot would name their new fashion doll after their own daughter, Barbie3.

In 1959 ,the Barbie doll would make her way to the New York Toy Show and receive a coo reception from the toy buyers.

Barbie has undergone a lot of changes over the years and has managed to keep up with current trends in hairstyles, makeup and

clothing. She is a reflection of the history of fashion since her introduction to the toy market.

Barbie has a universal appeal and collectors both young and old enjoy time spent and memories made with their dolls.

词汇：

duo /'dju:?u/n．一对艺人；一对shapely /?eipli/adj．样子好的，形状美好的fashion/'f???n/ vt．把……塑造成n．新式样，时尚

newsletter/'nju: z,let?(r)/n．时事通讯;业务通讯

makeup/'meik?p/n．化妆；化妆品；组成；构造

appeal/?'pi: l/n．恳求，吸引力vt．呼吁，恳求

注释：

1．This company would be named MATTEL, MATF for Mattson ,and EL for Elliot．这家公司命名为MATTEL（麦特尔）, MATT代表麦特森（Mattson), EL 代表埃利奥特（Elliot)。

2．shapely：是形容词，这一点特别提请注意。She has shapely legs．她大腿的线条很美。

3．Ruth and Elliot would name their new fashion doll after their own daughter, Barbie. Ruth和Elliot以自己女儿的名字芭比为他们新型的娃娃命名。name alter：用……的名字做名字。

译文芭比娃娃

20世纪40年代中期，雄心壮志的年轻夫妇露丝和埃利奥特·汉德勒就有了一家生产木制画框的公司。1945年，露丝和埃利奥特·汉德勒夫妇与他们的好友哈罗德·麦特森合开了一家公司。公司由于制造了最有名最成功的娃娃而人人知晓。公司命名为“MATTEL”。“MATT”代表麦特森(Mattson)，“EL”代表埃利奥特(Elliot)。

20世纪50年代中期，露丝·汉德勒游览瑞士时买了一个德国“莉莉”娃娃。“莉莉”是一个线条优美，漂亮又很时尚的娃娃。1955年第一次制作。她最早是根据《西德时事通讯》中的一个著名漫画人物——碧尔德塑造的。

莉莉这个娃娃唤起了露丝·汉德勒设计芭比娃娃的灵感。在MATTEL公司工艺师和工程师的帮助下，芭比娃诞生了。而后，露丝雇用了一名时装设计师查洛特·约翰逊设计芭比娃娃的全部衣物。并于1958年获得了芭比娃娃的专利。她是一个时髦的娃娃，不同于这一时代的其他娃娃。她的腿细长，线条优美，面庞娇美，只有11.5英寸高。露丝和埃利奥特以自己女儿的名字芭比为他们新型的娃娃命名。

1959年，芭比娃娃参加了纽约玩具展览，买者的反响极其强烈。

这些年来，芭比娃娃经历了很多的变化，在发式、装束、衣着方面都设法与时代潮流保持同步。自从她进入玩具市场，就成了时尚史的反映。

芭比娃娃对所有的人都有吸引力，收集者无论老少都喜欢和芭比共度时光，享受对她的回忆。