在不少年里，纽约市政部门逐步停用了该市控制人行横道信号灯的大多数按钮，但一直没如何声张。他们认定，计算机操控的计时器更好使。到了2004年，3250个按钮中只剩不到750个还能发挥用途。但，市政府并没拆除已经没用的那些按钮，令无数手指白费一番力气。
Photo by Nout Gons from Pexels
Initially, the buttons survived because of the cosplayt of removing them. But it turned out that even inoperative buttons serve a purpose. Pedestrians who press a button are less likely to cross before the green man appears, says Tal Oron-Gilad of Ben-Gurion university of the Negev, in Israel. Havin studied behaviour at crossings, she notes that people more readily obey a system which purports to heed their input.
刚开始，按钮被留下来是由于拆除的本钱问题。但后来却发现，即便没办法控制信号灯的按钮也仍有用处。以色列本古里安大学的塔勒奥龙-吉拉德表示，按下按钮的行人不太可能在绿色信号灯亮起前就横穿马路。研究过大家在路口的行为后，她注意到大伙更倾向于服从一个声称会听从他们的指令的系统。
Inoperative buttons produce placebo effects of this sort because people like an impression of control over systems they are using, says Eytan Adar, an expert on human-computer interaction at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr Adar notes that his students commonly design software with a clickable save button that has no role other than to reassure those users who are unaware that their keystrokes are saved automatically anyway. Think of it, he says, as a touch of benevolent deception to counter the inherent coldness of the machine world.
密歇根大学安娜堡分校的人机交互专家埃坦埃达表示，失效的按钮之所以会产生这种安慰剂效应，是由于大家喜欢对自己所用的系统有掌控感。他指出，我们的学生在设计软件时常常会加上一个可点击的保存按钮，但其实用户的输入都会自动保存，这个保存按钮只是为了让对此不知情的用户放心而已。他说，可以将这视作对抗机器世界里固有些冷漠的一种善意欺骗。
That is one view. But, at road crossings at least, placebo buttons may also have a darker side. Ralf Risser, head of factum, a Viennese institute that studies psychological factors in traffic systems, reckons that pedestrians awareness of their existence, and consequent resentment at the deception, now outweighs the benefits.
这是一种看法。但，安慰剂按钮可能也有不利的一面，至少在过马路的问题上是如此。研究交通系统心理原因的维也纳FACTUM研究所的负责人拉尔夫里瑟尔觉得，行人意识到按钮无效进而感到让人骗的怨怒，现在已让这种做法弊大于利。
Something which happened in Lebanon supports that view. Crossing buttons introduced in Beirut between 2005 and 2009 proved a flop. Pedestrians wanted them to summon a walk signal immediately, rather than at the next appropriate phase in the traffic-light cycle, as is normal. The authorities therefore disabled them, putting walk signals on a preset schedule instead. Word spread that button-pressing had become pointless. The consequent frustration increased the amount of jaywalking, says Zaher Massaad, formerly a senior traffic engineer for the Lebanese government.
黎巴嫩发生的状况可引为佐证。2005年至2009年间在贝鲁特引入的过街按钮最后被证明是失败的。行人期望按键后能立刻亮起步行信号，而不是像一般那样等待交通灯的周期性转换。因此市政部门停用了这类按钮，按预设的时间启动步行信号。曾在黎巴嫩政府担任高级交通工程师的查希尔马萨德说，过街按钮无用的消息传开，随之而来的懊恼致使更多人乱穿马路。
Beiruts disabled buttons are, says Mr Massaad, now being removed. They should all be gone within three years. New York has similarly stripped crossings of non-functioning buttons, says Josh Benson, the citys deputy commissioner for traffic operations, though it does retain about 100 working ones. These are in places wher pedestrians are sufficiently rare that sTOPping the traffic automatically is unjustified. However, internet chatter about placebo buttons has become so common that doubt, albeit misguided, seems to be growing about even these functioning buttons functionality. This suspicion, says Mr Benson, has spread beyond New York, to include places such as Los Angeles, wher almost all the crossing buttons have always worked, at least during off-peak hours.
马萨德说，贝鲁特正在拆除无效的过街按钮，三年内应该能全部清理完毕。纽约市交通运营处副处长乔什本森表示，纽约也拆除去无效的过街按钮，但保留了大约100个有效的。这类按钮都设置在行人稀有到已经不合适用自动交通灯的地方。然而，网上对安慰剂按钮的热议，致使大家对有效的按钮也开始怀疑起来，尽管这是遭到了误导。本森表示，这种怀疑已蔓延到了纽约以外的地方，包含几乎所有过街按钮都一直有效的洛杉矶。
Truth be told, though, the end may be nigh for all road-crossing buttons, placebo or real. At an increasing number of junctions, those waiting to cross can be detected, and even counted, using cameras or infrared and microwave detectors. Dynniq, a Dutch firm, recently equipped an intersection in Tilburg with a system that recognizes special apps on the smart phones of the elderly or disabled, and provides those people with 5 to 12 extra seconds to cross. That really will be pleasing.
但事实上，无论是安慰剂还是真的过街按钮可能都会非常快消亡。愈加多的道路交汇处配备了摄像头或红外和微波探测器，可探测甚至统计等待过马路的行人。荷兰科技公司Dynniq近年在蒂尔堡市的一个十字路口安装了一套系统，能辨别老年人或残疾人智能手机上的专门应用，为他们提供额外5到12秒的过马路时间。这的确会非常讨人喜欢。
重点词语
because of 由于，因为①because of是复合介词，其后可接名词、代词、动名词或由what引导的从句。②because of一般引导状语，不引导表语;但当主语是代词时，because of短语在句中可用作表语。
turned out 装束的 ; 打扮的
inoperative 无效的 ; 不可以实行的 ; 不运转的 ; 运行不正常的
green man 小白，没经验的人
crossings 安全通行处 ; 人行横道 ; 渡口 ; 过境处 ; 交叉点 ; 十字路口 ; 交叉道口 ; 横渡 ; crossing的复数
more readily 快捷地 ; 易如反掌地 ; 便利地 ; 欣然地 ; 乐意地 ; readily的比较级
purports 自称 ; 标榜 ; purport的第三人称单数
heed 留神，注意，听从 ; 注意 ; 留神
来源：英语世界