按下那個按鈕

生活中，按鈕無處不在，門鈴、自動售貨機、計算器、電話……按下按鈕，便會產生變化，我們對此再熟悉不過了。然而偏偏有一些按鈕，不管你怎么按，就是沒反應，比如說美國電梯里的關門鍵、人行道過街按鈕、辦公室恒溫計按鈕等。這些形同虛設的按鈕有何存在的意義呢？這里面還真有點兒學問。

By Christopher Mele 鹿尤 選注

It is a reflex born of years of habit: You see a button, press it and then something happens. The world is filled with them, such as doorbells, vending machines, calculators and telephones. But some buttons we regularly rely on to get results are mere artifices—placebos that promote an illusion of control but that in reality do not work. No matter how long or how hard you press, it will not change the outcome. Be prepared to be surprised—and disappointed—by some of these examples.

Door-close buttons on elevators

Pressing the door-close button on an elevator might make you feel better, but it will do nothing to hasten your trip.

Karen W. Penafiel, executive director of National Elevator Industry Inc., a trade group, said the close-door feature faded into obsolescence a few years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. The legislation required that elevator doors remain open long enough for anyone who uses crutches, a cane or wheelchair to get on board, Ms. Penafiel said in an interview. “The riding public would not be able to make those doors close any faster,” she said. However, the buttons can be operated by firefighters and maintenance workers who have the proper keys or codes.

No figures were available for the number of elevators still in operation with functioning door-close buttons. Given that the estimated useful life of an elevator is 25 years, it is likely that most elevators in service today have been modernized or refurbished, rendering the door-close buttons a thing of the past for riders, Ms. Penafiel said.

Take heart, though: The door-open buttons do work when you press them.

Crosswalk signals

New Yorkers (those who don’t jaywalk, that is) have for years dutifully followed the instructions on the metal signs affixed to crosswalk poles:

To Cross Street

Push Button

Wait for Walk Signal

But as The New York Times reported in 2004, the city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals. More than 2,500 of the 3,250 walk buttons that were in place at the time existed as mechanical placebos. Today there are 120 working signals, the city said.

About 500 were removed during major construction projects. But it was estimated that it would cost $1 million to dismantle the nonfunctioning mechanisms, so city officials decided to keep them in place. Most of the buttons were scattered throughout the city, mainly outside of Manhattan. They were relics of the 1970s, before computers began choreographing traffic signal patterns on major arteries. ABC News reported in 2010 that it found only one functioning crosswalk button in a survey of signals in Austin, Tex.; Gainesville, Fla.; and Syracuse.

Office thermostats

The same problem that confronts couples at home—one person’s perception that a room is too cold is another’s that it is too warm—faces office workers as well. Depending on where you work, you might find the thermostat in a plastic case under lock and key, but if you’re lucky you might have control over one.

Well, you might think you have control.

The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration News reported in 2003 that it asked readers in an informal online survey whether they had ever installed “dummy thermostats.” Of 70 who responded, 51 said they had. One respondent, David Trimble, wrote The News that people “felt better” that they could control the temperature in their work space after a nonfunctioning thermostat was installed. “This cut down the number of service calls by over 75 percent,” he wrote.

Sense of control

Though these buttons may not function, they do serve a function for our mental health, Ellen J. Langer, a psychology professor at Harvard University who has studied the illusion of control, said in an email. “Perceived control is very important,” she said. “It diminishes stress and promotes well being.”

John Kounios, a psychology professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said in an email there was no harm in the “white lie” that these buttons present. Referring to the door-close button on an elevator, he said, “A perceived lack of control is associated with depression, so perhaps this is mildly therapeutic.”

Knowing that pushing these buttons is futile does not mean it will stop people from trying, he added. The reward of the elevator door closing always occurs eventually, he said. “If the door never closed, we would stop pressing the button,” he continued. “But in that case, of course, we would stop using the elevator altogether. So, that habit is here to stay. Similarly, even though I have grave doubts about the traffic light buttons, I always press them. After all, I’ve got nothing else to do while waiting. So why not press the button on the off chance that this one will work?”

Vocabulary

1. 這是由多年習慣形成的一種條件反射。reflex: 反射。

2. vending machine: 自動售貨機；calculator: 計算器。

3. artifice: 詭計，欺騙； placebo: （使患者誤以為自己在服藥從而病情好轉的）安慰劑；illusion: 幻覺，假象。

4. hasten: 加速，加緊。

5. fade into: 逐漸轉弱而進入（某種狀態）；obsolescence: 廢棄，淘汰；enactment: 制定，通過；Americans with Disabilities Act: 《美國殘疾人法案》。

6. legislation: 立法；crutch: 拐杖；cane: （尤指帶彎柄的）拐杖。

7. maintenance: 維修。

8. 沒有確切數據顯示還有多少電梯的關門鍵仍然管用。

9. refurbish: 翻新，整修；render: 使成為，致使。

10. take heart: 振作。

11. jaywalk: 亂穿馬路；dutifully: 忠實地；affix: 使固定，貼上；pole: 桿，柱。

12. deactivate: 停止使用，使無效；pedestrian: 為行人而設的；emergence: 出現。

13. dismantle: 拆除，拆卸；mechanism: 機器，機械裝置。

14. scatter: 分散，散開。

15. 它們是20世紀70年代的產物，之后電腦開始編制主干道的交通信號模式。relic: 遺留物；choreograph: （精心）計劃，設計；artery: 干道。

16. thermostat: 溫度調節器，恒溫器。

17. perception: 感覺。

18. dummy: 仿造的，假的。

19. diminish: 減少，減小。

20. white lie: 善意的謊言。

21. 感到自己無力控制還與抑郁有關，因此，這或許是一種溫和治療法。therapeutic: 治療性的。

22. futile: 無效的，徒勞的。

23. grave: 認真的，深切的。

24. on the off chance: 對……抱極小的希望，只是碰碰運氣。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：董靜）