Light-fingered Britons are stealing 3.2 billion pounds of goods through self-service tills each year, with almost one in four people admitting taking at least one item without paying for it.

喜欢顺手牵羊的英国人每年通过自助收银机偷走的商品价值达32亿英镑，近1/4的人承认自己曾在未付账的情况下拿走至少一样商品。

Theft from unmanned checkouts¹ has more than doubled over the past four years, according to a study cited by The Times newspaper, raising questions about viability² of the devices in some stores in Britain.

《泰晤士报》援引的一项研究显示，过去4年间，无人收银台发生的偷窃翻了不止一倍，引发人们对英国部分商店里这种设备的可行性的质疑。

The loss equates³ to five pounds of goods per Briton per month, the newspaper said.

该报称，这一损失相当于每个英国人每月偷走5英镑的商品。

"Toiletries, fruit and veg and dairy products are the most common items taken and almost half of people who steal from the checkouts claim to do so regularly," it reported.

《泰晤士报》报道称：“洗漱用品、果蔬和奶制品是最常被偷的商品，近一半从收银台顺手牵羊的人称自己经常这么做。”

The study also suggested the high theft rate is not entirely⁴ because of a collapse⁵ in public morals but because the machines do not always work properly.

该研究还称，盗窃率高不完全是因为公共道德的崩溃，还因为这些机器并不总是能正常工作。

There are an estimated 50,000 self-service tills across Britain, according to the newspaper.

《泰晤士报》称，全英国估计有5万台自助收银机。