BEIJING: Public toilets in Chinese capital have started using facial recognition technology to stop toilet paper theft after it became rampant¹.

北京：中国首都的公厕开始使用人脸识别技术来阻止日渐猖獗的厕纸盗窃行为。

At the Temple of Heaven one of the capital's busiest tourist sites and a former hotbed of toilet paper kleptomania² a user in need of tissue paper must stand in front of a wall-mounted machine with a high definition camera Hong Kong-based SouthChina Morning Post reported.

据香港的《南华早报》报道，在天坛公园，首都人流最大的景点之一，此前频频发生厕纸盗窃事件。现在，如厕的人需要站在一个壁挂式高清摄像头前。

The device's software remembers recent faces and if the same person reappears within a certain period it refuses to activate³ the automatic roller.

设备软件会记录最近出现的人脸，如果同一个人在特定时间段内反复出现，它将拒绝启动自动出纸机。

For years many residents have been taking reams of paper from public toilets for use at home.

多年以来，许多人都把公厕厕纸带回家自己用。

Recently Chinese media outlets⁴ investigated the phenomenon⁵ and found most of the tissue bandits were senior citizens. Such behaviour has placed a considerable financial burden on public toilet management.

近日中国媒体对这一现象进行了调查，发现绝大多数小偷都是老年人。这样的行为给公厕管理带来了极大的经济负担。

Sometimes a newly replenished⁶ roll can disappear within a minute leaving other users an empty holder⁷.

有时，新放置的厕纸在几分钟内就会消失，给其他如厕的人留下一个空盒子。

The Temple of Heaven management said they also provided old-school rollers because not all visitors were accepting the new technology.

天坛公园管理处表示，他们同样提供老式卷纸，因为不是所有游客都能接受这项新技术。