介绍:
National Railway's Test Becomes Intellectual Challenge: Ticket Buyers
From CRIENGLISH.com
With the Spring Festival Holiday[春节假日] right around the corner[在拐角处；即将来临], huge numbers of people are already going online, booking train tickets for the most important vacation of the year. However, the recently updated image Captcha system[图形验证码系统] on 12306.com, China's one and only[唯一的] official online ticket selling platform[官方网上售票平台] - seems to be giving everybody a hard time, as the questions are too difficult.
It's been reported that only 8 percent of users pass the test on their first try and 27 percent get it right on the second time.
The image recognition test is required both when logging in[登录] and when buying the tickets[购票]. Most users say they've lost their desired ticket after taking too long to pass the test while others complain it is annoying[讨厌的；恼人的] how difficult the questions are.
"I've got it wrong so many times. After I finally pass the test, the ticket I want is sold out[卖光]."
"The picture looks like neither turtle[龟] nor trionyx[鳖]. It is a waste of time[浪费时间] for me to try figuring out[算出;想出] which pictures are what!"
The test requests users to find certain item, sometimes more than one, from listed photos. What makes it difficult is that it usually requires users to distinguish[区分] between very similar items, such as oranges[橙子] and tangerines[橘子] or between a bus card[公交卡] and a credit card[信用卡].
Also, some of the pictures contain objects that simply aren't common anymore - kerosene lamps[煤油灯], sewing machines[缝纫机], and typewriters[打字机] - and many users, especially younger ones, are not at all familiar with these antiques[古玩，古董].
While the website allows users to keep trying until they pass, if one fails too many times, the system will automatically upgrade into harder mode[自动升级(进入更难的模式)].
According to a customer service telephone operator[客户服务电话接线员] of China Railway, the new system is designed to prevent auto logins[自动登录] or malicious purchasing by machines[机器恶意购买(抢票软件)].
"We've been using a picture recognition system since early this year, as it is a very effective tool[有效的工具] to stop ticket scalpers[票贩子，黄牛党] and software from purchasing large number of tickets and reselling them at a higher price to make a profit[获利;赚钱]."
He adds that some software can identify simple verification[识别简单的验证], which they used before, 1,000 times per second while the new system has no such problem so far.
It is estimated that people will make 2 billion or more trips during the Spring Festival period, and predicting that around 30 million of those trips will be made by train.
For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.
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