自从公交一卡通普及以来，我们的出行变得既方便了又便宜。除了乘坐公交车，有一部分超市也能刷公交卡支付，这种形式的刷卡支付比用银行卡购物时又输密码又签名不知道方便了多少倍。据说，有些国家已经开始实行银行卡小额购物也用感应支付方式了，他们管这叫wave and pay，在卡机前晃一下就付完钱了，那当然受欢迎，也不用担心被人看去密码。

In recent years, many of us have had to learn about chip and pin as a security method when we pay for things using a credit card. Wave and pay is the next new idea in the field, which is described formally as a contactless payment card.

近几年，我们用信用卡买东西的时候还得学会用芯片和密码等安全保密工具。感应刷卡是这方面的一个新生力量，它的正式名称为“免接触式支付卡”。

The card works by a radio-frequency detection method that requires the card only to be placed close to the merchant’s terminal for the details of the transaction to be transferred and logged. The main value of the system is that it’s fast, so small transactions — at newsagents, fast-food outlets¹, coffee shops, car parks and the like — can be carried out.

这种卡是根据无线频率感应原理工作的，付款时只要将卡靠近商家的支付终端便可以显示详细交易清单并完成支付。该支付系统的最大优点是快。这样一来，报摊、快餐店、咖啡店、停车场之类经常进行小额交易的地方就可以实现简便快捷的支付了。