Millions of older people, manual laborers and cancer sufferers could be unable to use their fingerprints to log in to online bank accounts, Money Mail can reveal.
据《每日邮报》财经频道报道，众多老年人、体力劳动者和癌症患者可能无法用他们的指纹登录网上银行账户。

Banks are investing millions of pounds in fingerprint technology to replace passwords and PINs.
银行投入大量资金，用指纹技术取代密码和个人识别码。

Most already allow customers to log in to their mobile banking app by holding a finger against a sensor on their smart phone.
如今，大多数用户只要将手指按在智能手机的传感器上，就可以登录他们的手机银行应用软件。

Others are trialing new credit card and cash machines where, instead of entering a PIN, people use their fingerprint to pay or withdraw money.
还有一些机构正在试用采用指纹技术的新型信用卡和自动柜员机。用户无需输入密码就可以进行支付或者取款。

But banks may have to rethink these plans after warnings the technology could be fatally flawed.
但银行可能不得不重新考虑这些计划，因为有人警告，指纹技术可能存在致命缺陷。

Delegates representing major banks at a London cyber security conference were told many older people's fingerprints are too faded for the machines to recognize.
各大银行代表在参加伦敦网络安全会议时被告知，许多老年人的指纹消褪严重，以至于机器无法识别。

John Daugman, professor of computer vision and pattern recognition at the University of Cambridge, says: 'Skin dries with age, especially for older women.
剑桥大学计算机视觉和模式识别专业教授约翰•道格曼称：“随着年龄的增长，皮肤会越来越干燥，特别是对老年女性而言。”

'This shrinks the ridge pattern (already quite fine for women, with a spacing of around 0.3 mm), and wrinkles also develop which disrupt the fingerprint pattern.
“手指的指纹脊线会因此变浅（女性的纹线本身就相当浅，约为0.3毫米），而不断生出的皱纹也会破坏指纹纹理。”

'Fingerprints can 'rub off' for bricklayers, stonemasons and other manual laborers — their skin becomes almost shiny.
“瓦匠、石匠以及其他体力劳动者可能将指纹‘擦掉’，他们的皮肤几乎磨得发亮。”

'Gardeners often acquire a lot of scratches on their fingers, and people who work with chemicals, such as cleaners, also suffer erosion of fingerprints.'
“园丁的手指上经常会留下许多划痕，而保洁工人等在工作中接触清洁剂等化学制品的人群，指纹会被化学制品侵蚀。”

Medical professionals have also discovered that some treatments, such as chemotherapy, can cause fingerprints to disappear - sometimes permanently.
医学专家还发现，化疗等一些医疗方法有时甚至能让指纹永久消失。

Jean Slocombe, a senior nurse at Cancer Research UK, says: 'Some chemotherapy drugs can cause hand-foot syndrome, where the skin begins to peel on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
英国癌症研究所护士长珍•索坎比称：“一些化疗药物可能引发手足综合征，导致手掌和脚掌的皮肤脱落。”

'In severe cases, the fingers can peel, and it's possible this could change a patient's fingerprints.
“情况严重时，手指也会脱皮，病人的指纹可能因此改变。”

'This should improve once treatment ceases, but severe scarring can alter fingerprints long-term.'
“一旦治疗停止，脱皮问题会有所改善，但严重的疤痕可能会长期改变指纹。”

Fingerprints are considered more secure than passwords, because they are difficult to replicate and can't be written down, told to anyone or guessed. They can't be forged like a signature, either.
人们认为指纹比密码更安全，因为指纹难以复制，无法写下来、不能透露给别人，也无从猜测。和签名不同，指纹不能伪造。

At present, all banks give customers the option of entering a password or PIN to access their money online.
目前，所有银行的用户都可以输入密码或个人识别码登录网上银行。

But technology experts have predicted that firms could do away with passwords altogether to reduce the risk of fraud.
但技术专家预测，企业可能完全废除密码，以降低欺诈风险。

If they replace them with fingerprint technology, millions of bank customers could end up locked out of their accounts.
如果他们用指纹识别技术取代密码，那么许多银行客户可能再也无法解锁他们的账户。

Banks have trialed other security measures, such as facial recognition and iris or retina scanning - but fingerprint technology is often favored, as it is fast and people are more familiar with it.
银行也对其他安全措施进行了测试，例如，面部识别技术、虹膜或视网膜识别技术，但指纹识别技术通常是最受青睐的，因为其耗时短，且大众更为熟悉。

Nick Dryden, chief executive of technology company Sthaler, says: 'Businesses like fingerprint technology because it's fast - with iris or retinal scanning, people have to remove their glasses and line up properly, so it can take too long.
科技公司Sthaler的首席执行官尼克•屈莱顿表示：“企业对指纹识别青睐有加是因为这种识别方式的速度很快，虹膜或视网膜识别技术需要人们摘掉眼镜，对准扫描仪，这样花费的时间太长了。”

But it's not reliable enough to be rolled out as a primary way of paying for things or logging in to accounts, because there are loads of ways you can lose or damage your prints.
但是指纹识别技术的可靠性还不足以使其成为一种首要的支付或账号登录方式。因为很多因素都能让你失去或破坏自己的指纹。

'There must always be a back-up so that if it doesn't work, there is another way of paying, such as with a PIN or password.'
“必须要留一个备用方式，如果无法进行指纹识别，那么还可以用另外一种方式付款，比如个人识别码或密码。”

Dryden adds that using the veins in someone's fingers to identify them is more secure and means people with faded prints will not be left behind as technology advances.
屈莱顿表示，使用指静脉识别技术更加安全，而且不会因为技术发展将指纹消褪的人拒之门外。