欧罗巴十二宝之布拉格的玩具
日期:2014-12-12 11:18

(单词翻译:单击)

For the Travel section’s Oct. 19 issue on Europe, writers and editors selected special items to profile from a dozen cities. Below, explore everything from chocolate in Brussels to silk in Florence to design in Copenhagen.

在欧洲版10月19日旅游板块,作者与编辑精选了十二个城市的独特珍宝,下面,我们从布鲁塞尔的巧克力、佛罗伦萨的丝绸到哥本哈根的设计,逐一欣赏吧。

Prague: Toys
布拉格的玩具
There’s no shortage of souvenir shops in Prague, especially in touristic Old Town, but most of what these shops offer — Russian-style nesting dolls, reproduction Soviet tank commander hats, knockoff Barcelona football jerseys — has no connection to Czech culture or traditions. But as the father of two Czech-American children, I have often been impressed with the Czech Republic’s traditional children’s toys, and frequently recommend them as authentic souvenirs.
布拉格绝不缺乏纪念品商店,尤其是在游人如织的老城,但大多数店里出售的都是俄罗斯套娃、苏联坦克司令帽复制品或巴塞罗那足球队的运动服,与捷克文化或传统没有关联。但作为两名捷克与美国混血儿的父亲,捷克共和国的传统儿童玩具总让我耳目一新,把作为纯正旅行纪念品的代表屡屡向别人推荐。
One of the best outlets for traditional toys, or hracky, is the five-year-old Retro Hracky shop (Nuselska 90; retro-hracky.cz). Owned by Rene Zelnicek, a builder of professional models for architects and property developers, the shop is an easy trip on public transportation from the city center out to the decidedly nontouristic residential neighborhood of Michle. After a direct ride on the No. 11 tram line from the Muzeum stop at the top of Wenceslas Square, you’ll spot the giant Hracky sign on the side of a faded modernist building, right when you get off 12 minutes later at the Pod Jezerkou stop.
传统玩具最好的去处之一就是有五年历史的怀旧玩具店(Retro Hracky,Nuselska 90; retro-hracky.cz),店主雷内·泽尼恰克(Rene Zelnicek)是一位专业建筑模型设计师兼房地产开发。该店很容易找,市中心有公共车直达游客稀少的麦可尔住宅区。乘坐11路电车,从瓦刺拉夫广场一端的博物馆站出发,坐12分钟,在Pod Jezerkou站下车后,你就会在褪色的现代化建筑旁边看到巨大的怀旧标志。
The inside seems less like a toy store and more like a toy closet: a single small room overstuffed with beautiful, long-haired Hamiro dolls (around 300 Czech koruna, or about $14 at 21.7 koruna to the dollar) and boxes of Merkur metal construction sets (400 to 2,500 koruna), whose designs seem little changed since their first appearance in 1920. Inside one display case is an impressively realistic layout of Merkur’s O-scale model trains, on top of which are unusual stuffed animals, like the three-foot-high giraffe (750 koruna) and packs of simple wooden toys with wheels and pull strings. Everything seems quirky and fun, and often remarkably affordable.
店内看上去不太像个玩具店,倒是更像个玩具柜:小屋内塞满了美丽的长发哈米洛洋娃娃(约300捷克克朗;按照1美元等于21.7克朗计算,合14美元),一盒盒的默克金属建筑套装(400至2500克朗)看上去与1920年面世时几乎没有什么不同。展柜里有一套极其逼真的默克O刻度模型火车,下面则是那些异乎寻常的毛绒动物玩具,比如三英尺高的长颈鹿(750克朗),还有整盒的带轮的简单木制拉绳玩具。一切充满奇趣,而且价格便宜。

More important, almost everything has a real connection to the Czech lands. When you start playing with the old-fashioned wind-up metal toys from the Czech company Kovap, you will probably fall in love with the tiny version of the country’s classic Zetor tractor, complete with working forward and reverse gears (720 koruna), as well as optional attachable hay wagons, cisterns, seeders and tillers. In terms of entertainment, such historic toys probably don’t have much on Candy Crush Saga. But unlike most modern playthings, these toys don’t seem as if they could have been made anywhere else in the world. EVAN RAIL
更重要的是,几乎一切都与捷克这片土地有真正的关联。当你摆弄着捷克科瓦普公司出品的老式的、发条金属玩具,大概会爱上该国的古典版泽塔拖拉机模型,有向前和后退发条(720克朗),还有可拆卸式干草马车、水箱、播种机和耕作机。说到娱乐性,这些老玩具也许与糖果粉碎传奇几乎没有相似之处。但与大多数现代玩具不同的是,老玩具不是世界各地随处可造的。埃文·瑞尔(EVAN RAIL)供稿。

分享到