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One day this summer, I visited the western New York headquarters of Fisher-Price, the world’s largest maker of playthings for children under six years old, to see how beliefs about child development get incarnated in particular toys.
今年夏天的一天，我参观了费雪，它是全球最大的六岁以下儿童玩具制造商，总部位于纽约西部，想看看关于儿童发展的观点是如何体现在特定的玩具上的。
In the main building’s atrium, I watched an employee ride a giant cherry-red spiral slide from an upper level down to the ground floor.
在主楼的中庭，我看到一名员工乘坐巨大的樱桃红色螺旋滑梯，自高层滑向底层。
Scattered throughout the hallways were examples of the company’s best known and bestselling toys, from the classic Rock-a-Stack ring stacker, on the market since 1960, to the 4-in-1 Ultimate Learning Bot.
走廊各处散落着该公司最知名、最畅销的各种玩具，从1960年上市的经典彩虹套圈，到四合一终极学习机器人。
Creating a line of toys often takes a couple of years.
创造一个玩具系列通常需要几年的时间。
At Fisher-Price, which has been owned by the $6bn toy conglomerate Mattel since the early 1990s, commercial concerns quite naturally come first.
自上世纪90年代初以来一直由市值60亿美元的玩具集团美泰所有的费雪，自然会把商业利益放在首位。
The design process begins with a sheet from the marketing department specifying how many different products are needed for an upcoming season, at what prices, and for which outlets and licensing franchises.
设计过程始于营销部门的一张表格，上面明确列出了下一季需要多少种不同的产品，价格是多少，以及有哪些销售点和特许经营权。
Then come the trend reports, which help to set design directions, from the colour palette to the personality of each toy.
然后是趋势报告，帮助确定设计方向，从每个玩具的调色到性格。
Every offering must be “toyetic”, which translates into English as “cute” and easy to market.
每个产品都必须“toyetic”，翻译成英语就是“可爱”且易于营销。
In the late 2010s, when designing the Linkimals, a hugely popular line of educational toys in the form of quirky mammals that supposedly teach basic literacy, numeracy and the colours of the rainbow, Fisher-Price considered many types of characters.
在21世纪前十年的后期，费雪在设计“联萌”系列(一个非常受欢迎的益智玩具系列，古怪的哺乳动物形状，据说可以教基本的读写、算术和彩虹七色)时，考虑了各式各样的角色。
“Woodland and offbeat creatures were really starting to trend,” Dom Gubitosi, who oversees the design of the company’s infant and toddler toys, said. “Parents were bored of elephants and tigers.”
负责婴幼儿玩具设计的多姆·古比托西说:“森林和另类的动物真的开始流行起来，父母们厌倦了大象和老虎。”
Today, the line includes the A to Z Otter, the Boppin’ Beaver and the Lights & Colors Llama – but sadly no Patterns & Prepositions Pangolin.
如今，该系列从A到Z的字母包括“水獭”、“受欢迎的海狸”以及“光色羊驼”，但遗憾的是“图案与介词”还没有“穿山甲”。
“No matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t make the pangolin cute enough,” said Kevin Crane, the Linkimals’ principal product designer.
“联萌”系列的首席产品设计师凯文·克兰说:“无论我们多么努力，我们就是无法把穿山甲做得很可爱。”
Even in the age of online delivery, the defining moment in the life of many mass-market toys occurs in the shop aisle.
即使身处在线配送时代，但许多大众市场玩具的决定性时刻还发生在商店的货架上。
Children start making their own purchasing decisions around the time they enter primary school, but for nursery-age toys, adults are still by-and-large the ones doing the buying.
孩子们大约上小学时开始自己做购买决定，但对于幼儿玩具，基本上还是成年人在做购买决定。
To convince grownups to open their wallets – or to incite children to wheedle, plead, cajole and then go thermonuclear until grownups open their wallets – the “on-shelf experience” of a toy is crucial.
要想说服成年人掏钱--鼓动孩子们哄骗、恳求、劝诱、然后发生热核反应，直到大人掏钱--玩具的“货架体验”至关重要。
