A cashless society
无现金社会
There is nothing worse than fumbling around in your pocket trying to find some small change to pay for a newspaper or a coffee. So it's good to know that new technology is making cash - banknotes and coins - a thing of the past, turning us into a cashless society.
没有什么比掏口袋找零钱买报纸或咖啡更糟糕的了。因此，令人高兴的是，新技术正在使现金——纸币和硬币——成为历史，把我们带进一个无现金社会。
Today, many of us already use credit and debit cards for financial transactions so there's no need to carry around huge wads of hard currency. And now it's possible to make contactless payments using tap-and-go cards which are regular bankcards but with a built-in chip and antenna. The card reader sends out a radio frequency and, when you bring the card close to the reader, the antenna picks up the signal to make the payment.
今天，许多人已经使用信用卡和借记卡进行金融交易，所以没有必要随身携带大量现金。而且目前使用即插即用卡进行非接触式支付已经成为可能。这种卡是普通的银行卡，但是内置了芯片和天线。读卡器会发出射频信号，当把卡靠近读卡器，天线就会接收信号进行支付。
Paying this way or spending on 'plastic' - an informal name for a credit card - can put you at risk of fraud. Criminals try to steal cards, or the information on them, to make purchases online or in shops. However, contactless payment is capped - in the UK the limit is ￡30. And, if someone does go on a spending spree with your card, your bank covers you against the loss - something that wouldn't happen if your banknotes were stolen. Also, the introduction of chip and PIN technology has led to a drop in fraud and has even been helping businesses by cutting the time people spend at tills in shops.
用这种方式付款或在“信用卡”(信用卡的非正式名称)上消费会面临盗刷风险。犯罪分子试图盗取信用卡或卡上的信息，在网上或商店购物。然而，非接触式支付是有限额的——在英国，这一限额是30英镑。而且，如果有人大肆盗刷你的卡，银行会赔付损失——而如果你的现金被偷了，是不可能获得银行赔付的。此外，芯片和PIN技术的引入降低了盗刷风险，甚至还能通过减少人们在商店人工收银的时间来帮助企业节约成本。
But, if getting your bankcard out seems like too much trouble, there's now a solution using wearable tech - that's clothing and accessories that include computer and electronic technologies. Kenneth Cukier, economist and technology expert, says "this is intended for people who are incredibly lazy who don't want to take their card out of their wallet, or use their phone, or use their watch. People are going to be making more purchases more of the time - particularly for small-valued goods."
但是，如果你觉得出示卡片太麻烦的话，可以试试现在的一种使用可穿戴技术的解决方案——包括电脑和电子技术在内的服装和配件。经济学家、技术专家肯尼斯·库基尔表示：“这是为那些极其懒惰的人设计的，他们不想从钱包里拿出银行卡，也不想使用手机或手表。人们将在同一时间里购买到更多的商品——尤其是小价值商品。”
And, although our mobile phones are another way of making payments, BBC reporter Kate Russell says that when this is inconvenient you can use the fingo-pay system which "reads the unique maps of veins under the surface of your finger." The trick is remembering which finger you registered with - that's when good old-fashioned cash might save the day! What do you prefer to use when you buy something?
此外，虽然手机支付是另一种支付方式，BBC记者凯特·拉塞尔说，如果觉得这很不方便，你可以使用指纹支付系统，它可以“读取你手指表面特有纹路”。关键在于要记住你用的是哪根手指——这时，老式的现金可能会帮你挽回局面！你买东西时喜欢用哪种支付方式？
词汇表
fumbling
掏来掏去
small change
零钱
banknotes
纸币
credit
信用
debit cards
现金账户卡
transactions
交易
wads
一扎一扎
hard currency
现金
contactless payments
无接触支付
tap-and-go
点击付款
antenna
天线
plastic (informal)
（俗语）信用卡
fraud
诈骗
purchases
购物
spending spree
疯狂采购
chip and PIN
密码
tills
收款柜台
wearable tech
可穿戴科技
fingo-pay
指纹支付
小e英语Lu翻译！