【英语时差8,16】传统玩具圣诞节赚疯

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Six-year-old Lucas has a "Power Rangers¹" video game, a few robots and lots of teddy bears. But the toy he likes best is a wooden train set made by Brio, a 123-year-old manufacturer based in Sweden.

"I like to see the train go round and round the tracks that I have made. You can't transform robots into anything else. But with the train it's different every time," says Lucas, who lives in Denmark.

The recall of millions of hazardous² toys made in China has alarmed parents across the world. But it has also highlighted an ongoing³ shift by affluent⁴ European consumers towards more traditional playthings made with natural products.

As a result, manufacturers and retailers⁵ of old-fashioned train sets and dollhouses are rubbing their hands in anticipation⁶ ahead of Christmas.

"We are very optimistic," says Graziano Grazini, the managing director of Citta del Sole (Sun City), an Italian franchise⁷ that specializes in traditional, environmentally friendly toys.

China still makes an estimated 80 percent of the world's toys, and its share of the global market is not expected to drop significantly.

In the end, experts say that the world market is large enough to accommodate both the increasingly popular flashy electronic toys made in China and traditional wooden toys from Europe.

Just as in that famous 1995 film, "Toy Story," Woody and Buzz Lightyear can remain the best of friends.

 

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