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, the toy company behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, has a new boss from the media business who wants more films and games, while Barbie sales fell 10 percent in the third quarter of 2026. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 2 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 公司、电影、手机 and walks through 6 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 is a toy company.
Barbie dolls, it's the one that makes them.
I had one too when I was little.
It also makes Hot Wheels, very small toy cars.
And Fisher-Price.
Fisher-Price is for very young children to play with.
This year, from July to September, compared with last year, these three sold differently.
Hot Wheels sold more.
Up 6 percent.
Barbie dolls sold less.
Down 10 percent.
Fisher-Price was down too, down 15 percent.
Down a lot.
So the company said this year is not as good as it first thought.
Right at this time, Mattel got a new boss.
He only came in October.
Actually, he didn't do toys before.
Before, he ran a magazine company.
Even earlier, he ran a company for listening to music online.
The old boss went to a film company.
The new boss wants Mattel to make more films and more games.
See, Barbie has already been in a film once.
In 2023, there was a film called Barbie.
That year, the best-selling film in the whole world was it.
I went to see it too.
But this year, Barbie dolls still sold less.
Then there are games.
Other companies have done well.
Hasbro makes toys too.
In 2023, it turned Monopoly into a mobile game.
Lots of people played it.
Actually, Mattel has mobile games too.
Since 2018, it has made them together with NetEase.
So there has been a film, and there are games too.
But this year, Barbie and Fisher-Price both sold less.
I think this is the hardest thing for the new boss.
Of these three, the only one that sold more is Hot Wheels.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 2. The measure word is 家: 一家玩具公司, 一家电影公司.
HSK 1. The measure word is 部: 一部电影. 上电影 here means to be made into a film.
HSK 1. 手 is hand and 机 is machine. 手机游戏 is a game you play on your phone.
HSK 2. 听音乐 is to listen to music. 在网上听音乐 means listening to music online.
HSK 1. 很小的孩子 means very young children, the ones 费雪 toys are made for.
HSK 2. 卖得多 means it sells well; 卖得少 means it sells less. Do not mix it up with 买, to buy.
HSK 2. Put it at the start: 我小时候 means when I was little.
HSK 3. 玩 is to play and 具 is a tool. 玩具公司 is a toy company; 玩具车 is a toy car.
Beyond the HSK 1 to 5 lists. Here it means a doll, as in 芭比娃娃. It can also mean a baby or a small child.
HSK 3. The person who runs a company or a shop. 新老板 is the new boss; 原来的老板 is the old one.
HSK 3. Any game. 做游戏 in this script means to make games as a business.
HSK 3. 杂志公司 is a company that makes magazines. The new boss ran one before.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法得 links a verb to a word that says how it went. 卖得多 means sold a lot; 卖得少 means sold less.
风火轮卖得多了。
芭比娃娃卖得少了。
跟 + Noun + 比
Compares something with another thing or time. 跟去年比 means compared with last year.
今年七月到九月，跟去年比，这三个卖得不一样。
想让 + Person + Verb
Says what someone wants another person or a company to do.
新老板想让美泰多做电影，多做游戏。
把 + Object + 做成 + Result
把 brings the object before the verb. 做成 means to make it into something new.
二零二三年，它把《大富翁》做成了手机游戏。
从 + Time + 起
Says when something started. It is often followed by 就.
从二零一八年起，它就跟网易一起做。
Proper nouns
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