A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
芭比的公司，想做电影和游戏
Barbie's Company Wants to Make Films and Games
About this story
Mattel, maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels, has a new chairman and chief executive from the media business who wants more films and games, while Barbie sales fell 10 percent in the third quarter of 2026. HSK 5+ Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 5+ Chinese listening episode that runs about 3 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 成本、上涨、行业 and walks through 7 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls, got a new chairman and chief executive in October.
As it happens, his predecessor went to a film company after leaving Mattel.
And this new boss came from the other direction.
He previously ran a company that publishes magazines, and before that, a music-streaming platform. Neither job had anything to do with toys.
One went from toys to films, one from media into toys. The two just passed each other.
What the new boss took over was a report card that didn't look too good.
This year from July to September, compared with the same period last year, Hot Wheels cars rose 6 percent, Barbie fell 10 percent, and Fisher-Price, for babies and toddlers, fell 15 percent.
The company then lowered its forecast for the full year.
It is reported that Mattel's market value has already shrunk by about a fifth this year.
So what he has to tell from the start is a story bigger than toys.
It is reported that on his first results call he said what drew him to join was the household-name brands Mattel holds.
As he sees it, these names can all become films, games and live events.
Put plainly, it means turning a toy company into an entertainment company.
This idea didn't come out of nowhere.
The 2023 film Barbie was the top-grossing film worldwide that year.
I went to see it at the time too.
But an analyst says that wave did not keep the dolls selling well, and the buzz was more about adults dressing in pink and going into cinemas.
This year Barbie fell another 10 percent, which more or less bears that out.
In other words, a film can make the whole world remember a name, but it won't necessarily make the dolls on the shelf sell more.
Games follow the same logic, only this time it was a rival who showed results first.
In 2023, Hasbro turned its board game Monopoly into a mobile game, and it was a big success.
Actually, Mattel wasn't late to start here. Since 2018, it has run a mobile-game studio together with NetEase.
So why is the new boss so set on going into entertainment?
An analyst at a bank says the toy business as a whole is shrinking: fewer children are born, and children put down toys and turn to screens at a younger age.
It is reported that what is holding up sales right now is actually adults buying toys for themselves. They buy little cars, building bricks and cards.
Hot Wheels managing to rise 6 percent against the trend, I think these adults have a lot to do with it.
On the cost side, it's not easy either.
It is reported that rising oil prices have made plastic more expensive, and parents are paying more and more attention to price when they spend.
So what the new boss faces is really two things.
In the long run, making names like Barbie and Hot Wheels come alive on screen, in games and at live events.
Right now, stopping the toys on the shelf from falling any further.
The first is exactly his old line of work.
The second, he only took over in October.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 5. The money it takes to make something.
HSK 5. Used for prices and costs going up.
HSK 4. 玩具行业 means the toy industry.
HSK 4. Used for what draws a person to something.
HSK 5. Used when attention or a business moves in a new direction.
HSK 4. A company's forecast of its own results is a 预测.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. 家喻户晓的品牌 are brands everyone knows, like 芭比 and 风火轮.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. 往娱乐上走 means moving the business toward films, games and live events.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. What a company's shares are worth in total. 市值蒸发 means market value wiped out.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. A game played on a phone. 手机游戏工作室 is a studio that makes them.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. A company's results for a period. 业绩电话会 is the call where they are presented.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. What a film earns from tickets. 全球票房最高 means the top-earning film worldwide.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法A + 兼 + B
兼 means one person holds two roles at once.
十月来了一位新的董事长兼首席执行官
在 + Person + 看来
Means in someone's view. It gives that person's opinion.
在他看来，这些名字都可以变成电影、游戏和现场活动。
说白了，就是……
Means to put it plainly. It sums up what was just said in simple words.
说白了，就是把一家玩具公司，做成一家娱乐公司。
并不 / 并没有 + Verb
并 makes a negative stronger and often corrects what the listener might assume.
这个想法并不是凭空来的。
能……，却不一定能……
Contrasts what something can do with what it may fail to do.
一部电影能让全世界都记住一个名字，却不一定能让货架上的娃娃卖得更多。
……的，反倒是……
反倒 introduces an answer that goes against what you would expect.
眼下撑住销量的，反倒是给自己买玩具的成年人
为什么非要 + Verb
非要 means insisting on doing something. With 为什么 it asks why someone must take that path.
那新老板为什么非要往娱乐上走？
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
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