The days of having to remember your ID could soon be a thing of the past. The famous tourist town of Wuzhen, China, is now using facial recognition technology to act as its entry pass through the gates of the attraction. The system uses cameras to notice people as they approach the entry, and checks these against a database of registered visitors within a few seconds. The technology is thought to be up to 99.77 percent accurate and able to distinguish people better than a human.
Wuzhen is a popular tourist town with visitors going there in large numbers to see its stunning river system and museums. Baidu, a web firm often referred to as “Chinese Google”, created the system. When people now check in to their accommodation, they will have their photo taken and uploaded to a central database upon leaving and re-entering the town, the system will re-check that they are still a guest at a hotel, before allowing them back in.
The technology is being used to track the 5,000 visitors that stay in the town’s hotels every day. Yuanqing Lin, director of the Institute of deep Learning at Baidu, told The Verge, “With our technology, you don’t need to give your ID. When you are approaching a gate, it will take a photo of you and compare that photo to the database.” Wuzhen used to monitor its visitors using a ticket-entry system, but this could easily be abused. It was discovered that some people were sharing their tickets to avoid paying.
Baidu’s system is based on neural networks, which can process huge amounts of data--- more than one billion faces. As well as recognizing faces, the system can also discover facial movements, so it can’t be fooled by someone holding up a mask.
Baidu is also using the software for employee entry at its Beijing headquarters.
5. What can be learnt about the facial recognition technology from the passage?
A. The technology could soon be a thing of the past.
B. The technology can be over 99.77% accurate.
C. The technology can match visitors’ faces with those in the database
D. The technology is being used to track where the 5,000 visitors are going.
6. Which of the following word can replace the underlined word “stunning” in paragraph 2?
A. popular B. attractive C. brilliant D. funny
7. How does Wuzhen monitor its visitors now?
A. By using facial recognition technology
B. By using a ticket-entry system
C. By using ID card
D. By using tickets
8. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Facial recognition is widely used in China.
B. Baidu, a web firm, is using the recognition system.
C. Chinese tourist town Wuzhen is using facial recognition.
D. Wuzen is a popular tourist town with many visitors going there to see the system.