The World's Number One Doll(b)|不朽的芭比传奇

by Brian Foden

Introduced to the world more than half a century ago, Barbie has become a cultural icon.

　　In the more than 50 years that Barbie has been produced, thousands of different versions of the doll have appeared. Barbie has had a wide variety of occupations, including fashion model, scientist, and rock star, among many others. With the doll's vast popularity, it's not surprising that collecting Barbies has become a hobby for many people. It's estimated that there are over 100,000 people who could be listed as active collectors, the vast majority of them women. The person with one of the largest Barbie collections in the world, however, is a man in his 40s named Stanley Colorite. His collection of more than 2,000 Barbies is worth about US$80,000, and he spends thousands of dollars a year obtaining more of them.

　　The interest in collecting Barbies is so great that Mattel caters to the market by issuing limited edition dolls, which are manufactured in quantities of less than 35,000. In some cases, such as with the Canadian Barbie, which is a redheaded beauty dressed in the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the number produced is much lower. Some collector edition Barbies highlight the various cultures of the world. For example, there is a Carnaval Barbie that is dressed up in a festive outfit you might see at the Brazilian festival. Other collectables include an Oktoberfest Barbie and ones designed by famous American fashion designer Anna Sui. Mattel continues to diversify the Barbie line to modernize and keep it topical and trendy. Recently, Mattel collaborated with NASA to launch a Mars Explorer Barbie to coincide with the first anniversary of the landing of the Mars rover, Curiosity. Despite competition from other toymakers and changes in technology, Barbie remains the number one doll in the world today.      

 

　　芭比娃娃已生产逾五十年，至今已出现了几千种不同版本的娃娃。芭比有着各式各样的职业，其中包括了时装模特儿、科学家以及摇滚巨星等等。随着芭比的广泛流行，收集芭比娃娃变成许多人的兴趣也就不足为奇了。据估计大约有超过十万人可被列为积极的收藏家，而其中大部份为女性。不过，世界上收藏最多芭比娃娃的其中一位收藏家，是一位四十几岁名叫史丹利．卡洛理特的男子。他收藏了超过两千个芭比娃娃，价值约八万美元，而且他一年会花费数千美元购买更多的芭比收藏品。

　　收集芭比娃娃的爱好者为数众多，因此美泰公司为了迎合市场便推出了限量版的芭比娃娃，限量版芭比的生产数量都不超过三万五千个。某些限量款，象是有一款加拿大版的芭比娃娃，造型为红发美女身着加拿大皇家骑警的制服，生产的数量就更少了。而有些珍藏版的芭比娃娃则着重于突显世界各地的文化。举例来说，有一款嘉年华芭比身着一种你可能只会在巴西庆典上看到的节庆服装。其余的珍藏品还包括德国啤酒节芭比，还有一款则是出于美国名设计师安娜．苏之手。美泰公司继续多元化扩展芭比的种类，使之更符合现代的需求并保持她的话题性与时尚度。因适逢好奇号登陆火星满一周年，美泰公司最近还与美国太空总署合作，推出了一款火星探险家芭比。尽管面对其他玩具制造商的竞争以及技术上的变革，芭比娃娃至今还是世界头号的娃娃。