芭比变身成超级女英雄

 　　When people think of dolls, they often think of princesses, Barbies and pretty pink dresses – but one Melbourne mother is determined¹ to break that stereotype².

　　提到洋娃娃，大家就会想起公主、芭比娃娃和漂亮的粉色裙子。不过，墨尔本一位妈妈决心要打破这种思维定式。

　　When Rebecca Millar's three-year-old daughter Abigail added The Avengers to her list of favorite characters, she looked everywhere for the female heroes but couldn't find them.

　　当丽贝卡?米勒3岁的女儿阿比盖尔把“复仇者联盟”毛绒公仔当成她的“新欢”时，米勒太太到处寻找“复仇者联盟”的女性玩偶形象，却一无所获。

　　When Ms Millar was in Kmart buying Abigail a Thor doll, she noticed a Sparkle 'Girlz' doll with red hair and decided³ to try and turn it into a Black Widow doll herself.

　　当米勒太太在凯马特为阿比盖尔买一个雷神玩偶时，她注意到一个红色头发的芭比娃娃，于是决定亲自尝试把它改造成“黑寡妇”玩偶。

　　Ms Millar posted the result on her Twitter, and to her surprise, received a flood of positive feedback.

　　米勒太太把她的改造成果发到了推特上，令她吃惊的是，她收到了许多积极反馈。

　　芭比变身成超级女英雄

　　The Black Widow doll was soon followed by a Maria Hill doll, and before long Ms Millar was painting dolls as a way to relax at the end of the day.

　　“黑寡妇”娃娃完工之后，米勒太太就开始制作复仇者联盟中的“玛丽亚?希尔”娃娃，不就之后，米勒太太每天晚上都会给洋娃娃喷涂颜色，作为娱乐消遣。

　　'Abigail picked out characters from her Marvel⁴ guide for me to paint, and I did the Star Trek⁵ ones because I love Star Trek and then people started suggesting others, so I did those ones too,' Ms Millar said, 'I think I've probably made around 30 dolls so far.'

　　“阿比盖尔从她喜欢的漫威人物中挑出了一些让我来涂色，我完成了‘星际迷航’系列，因为我也是粉丝一枚。后来大家也给我推荐别的人物，而且我也涂了，”米勒太太说，“我想我可能已经涂了30个左右了。”

　　Ms Millar also shares her creations in a bid to break the stereotypes⁶ surrounding dolls.

　　米勒太太也分享了她的创作，试图打破关于洋娃娃的刻板印象。

　　'The main message is that girls can, and do, like things like superheroes - just the same as boys can, and do, like things like princesses.'

　　“我想传达的主要信息是，女孩可以而且也确实喜欢超级英雄类的玩具，就像男孩可以也确实喜欢公主一样。”

　　Ms Millar also posts tutorials on how to create the dolls on her website.

　　米勒太太也在她的网站上发布一些制作这些娃娃的教程。

　　The dolls have now also evolved into brand new characters that Ms Millar and Abigail design together and hope to sell.

　　这些洋娃娃现已经变成了全新的人物，这是由米勒太太和阿比盖尔共同设计的，她们希望能出售这些娃娃。

　　'It's awesome⁷ seeing my daughter come up with names for the original dolls, and give them back stories and see where her imagination takes her,' Ms Millar said, 'It's also about celebrating strong female characters, and about showing girls that they can be superheroes, or scientists, or anything they want to be.'

　　“看到自己的女儿为原版洋娃娃起名字，赋予它们故事，看着她的想象天马行空，这种感觉太棒了，”米勒太太说，“这也是歌颂刚强的女性形象的方式，同时也让女孩子们看看，自己也可以成为超级英雄、科学家，成就自己任何的梦想。

　　Vocabulary

　　stereotype: 模式化观念

　　tutorial: 教程

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

5 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

6 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.