交通假按钮的利与弊，一个紧迫的问题。多年来，纽约当局关闭了该市大部分曾用来控制行人过路信号灯的按钮,他们并没有大惊小怪，而是认为用计算机定时器往往更好。到2004年，3250个这样的按钮中，只有不到750个仍在使用。然而，市政府并没有取消这些没有作用的按钮，而是让无数的人继续徒劳按着。

　　The pros and cons of placebo buttons

　　交通假按钮的利与弊

　　A pressing problem

　　一个紧迫的问题

　　SUPPRESSIO VERI,suggestio falsi.Over the course of many years,without making any great fuss about it,the authorities in New York disabled most of the control buttons that once operated pedestrian-crossing lights in the city.Computerised timers,they had decided,almost always worked better.By 2004,fewer than 750 of 3,250 such buttons remained functional.The city government did not,however,take the disabled buttons away—beckoning countless fingers to futile pressing.

　　fuss/fʌs/CET4 TEM4

　　N-SING Fuss is anxious or excited behaviour which serves no useful purpose.无谓的忙乎

　　functional/ˈfʌŋkʃənəl/CET4

　　ADJ Functional things are useful rather than decorative.实用的

　　futile/ˈfjuːtaɪl/CET6+TEM4

　　ADJ If you say that something is futile,you mean there is no point in doing it,usually because it has no chance of succeeding.(常因无成功的可能而)无谓的

　　隐瞒真相，就等于宣扬虚伪。多年来，纽约当局关闭了该市大部分曾用来控制行人过路信号灯的按钮,他们并没有大惊小怪，而是认为用计算机定时器往往更好。到2004年，3250个这样的按钮中，只有不到750个仍在使用。然而，市政府并没有取消这些没有作用的按钮，而是让无数的人继续徒劳按着。

　　Initially,the buttons survived because of the cost 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.Having studied behaviour at crossings,she notes that people more readily obey a system which purports to heed their input.

　　initially/ɪˈnɪʃəlɪ/TEM4

　　ADV Initially means soon after the beginning of a process or situation,rather than in the middle or at the end of it.最初

　　purport/pəˈpɔːt/TEM8

　　V-T If you say that someone or something purports to do or be a particular thing,you mean that they claim to do or be that thing,although you may not always believe that claim.声称

　　heed/hiːd/TEM8

　　V-T If you heed someone's advice or warning,you pay attention to it and do what they suggest.注意;听从

　　最初，这些按钮留下来是因为去除它们的成本较多。但事实证明，即使是失效的按钮也有其作用。以色列内盖夫地区的班古里昂大学的Tal Oron-Gilad说，行人按下一个按钮后就不太可能在绿灯出现之前穿过马路。研究过人们过十字路口后的行为后，她指出，人们更容易遵守一个声称自己会听取他们意见的系统。

　　Inoperative buttons produce placebo effects of this sort(the word placebo is Latin for“I shall be pleasing”)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.

　　reassure/ˌriːəˈʃʊə/CET6 TEM8

　　V-T If you reassure someone,you say or do things to make them stop worrying about something.使安心;使消除疑虑

　　benevolent/bɪˈnɛvələnt/CET6+TEM8

　　ADJ If you describe a person in authority as benevolent,you mean that they are kind and fair.仁慈的

　　inherent/ɪnˈhɪərənt,-ˈhɛr-/CET4 TEM4

　　ADJ The inherent qualities of something are the necessary and natural parts of it.内在的

　　密歇根大学安娜堡分校的人机交互专家艾坦·阿达尔博士指出，无效的按钮会产生这种安慰剂效应(placebo这个词在拉丁语中是“我会很高兴”的意思)，因为人们喜欢自己控制他们所使用的系统，他还指出，他的学生设计的软件通常带有一个可点击的“保存”按钮，除了安抚用户之外，这个按钮没有任何作用，他们不知道自己的按键操作是会自动保存的。他说，我们可以把它想成是一种善意的欺骗，用以对抗机器世界的冷漠。

　　【相关背景】

　　placebo effects，安慰剂效应，又名伪药效应、假药效应、代设剂效应；指病人虽然获得无效的治疗，但却“预料”或“相信”治疗有效，而让病患症状得到舒缓的现象。安慰剂效应于1955年由毕阙博士提出，亦理解为“非特定效应”或受试者期望效应。一个性质完全相反的效应亦同时存在——反安慰剂效应：病人不相信治疗有效，可能会令病情恶化。

　　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.

　　reckon/ˈrɛkən/CET4 TEM4

　　V-T If you reckon that something is true,you think that it is true.想

　　consequent/ˈkɒnsɪkwənt/CET6 TEM4

　　ADJ Consequent means happening as a direct result of an event or situation.作为结果的

　　resentment/rɪˈzɛntmənt/CET6 TEM4

　　N-UNCOUNT Resentment is bitterness and anger that someone feels about something.怨恨

　　这是一种观点。但是，至少在十字路口方面，安慰剂按钮也有其阴暗的一面。维也纳专门研究交通系统心理因素的机构——FACTUM的负责人拉尔夫·瑞瑟说，据估计，行人意识到这件事的存在后产生的对欺骗的怨恨，现在已经超过了其带来的好处。

　　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.

　　summon/ˈsʌmən/CET6 TEM4

　　V-T If you summon someone,you order them to come to you.召唤

　　appropriate/əˈprəʊprɪɪt/CET4 TEM4

　　ADJ Something that is appropriate is suitable or acceptable for a particular situation.适当的

　　jaywalking/ˈdʒeɪˌwɔːkɪŋ/

　　N-UNCOUNT Jaywalking is the act of walking across a street in a careless and dangerous way,or not at the proper place.乱穿马路

　　黎巴嫩发生的一些事情也佐证了这一观点。2005年至2009年在贝鲁特实行的交叉路口按钮工程以失败告终。行人希望他们立即发出“步行”信号，而不是像通常情况那样，在红绿灯周期的下一个适当阶段发出。因此，当局取消了这些按钮的效果，而是按照预先设定的时间表设置行走信号。有消息说，这种按钮已经没有意义了。黎巴嫩政府前高级交通工程师扎赫•马萨德说，随之而来的挫折感增加了人们横穿马路的次数。

　　【相关背景】

　　Beirut：贝鲁特是黎巴嫩的首都，位于贝鲁特省的地中海沿岸，是该国最大的海港。因为最近一直没有进行人口普查，故其具体人口未知。2007年时估计有100万到200万之间。该地名首次出现于古埃及的阿马尔奈文书中，历史可追溯至公元前15世纪，并一直有人类居住，与邻国叙利亚的大马士革并列为世界最古老城市之一。

　　Beirut’s 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 city’s deputy commissioner for traffic operations,though it does retain about 100 working ones.These are in places where 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,where almost all the crossing buttons have always worked,at least during off-peak hours.

　　commissioner/kəˈmɪʃənə/CET6+TEM4

　　N-COUNT A commissioner is an important official in a government department or other organization.(政府部门等的)重要官员

　　retain/rɪˈteɪn/CET4 TEM4

　　V-T To retain something means to continue to have that thing.保留

　　albeit/ɔːlˈbiːɪt/

　　ADV You use albeit to introduce a fact or comment that reduces the force or significance of what you have just said.尽管

　　Mr Massaa说，贝鲁特的这些无效按钮现在已经被移除。他们应该在三年内全部被去除。纽约市交通运营副专员乔希•本森表示，纽约也同样去掉了一些无法使用的交叉路口按钮，尽管该市确实保留了大约100个仍在运行的按钮。在这些地方，行人非常稀少，自动停车不太合理。然而，互联网上关于安慰剂按钮的讨论已经变得如此普遍，以至于人们越来越怀疑这些有效按钮的功能，尽管这是一种误导。本森先生说，这种怀疑已经蔓延到纽约以外的地方，包括洛杉矶，几乎所有的交叉按钮都能正常工作，至少在非高峰时间是这样。

　　【语法知识】

　　albeit的用法：书面语，不太常用

　　albeit（conj.）[古语]尽管，即使，虽然[一般用来连接单词或短语，而不是从句]

　　Albeit difficult,the job is getting done.

　　尽管工作很困难，还是就要完成了。

　　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 recognises special apps on the smartphones of the elderly or disabled,and provides those people with 5 to 12 extra seconds to cross.That really will be pleasing.

　　junction/ˈdʒʌŋkʃən/CET6 TEM4

　　N-COUNT/N-IN-NAMES A junction is a place where roads or railway lines join.(铁路、公路的)汇合点

　　detect/dɪˈtɛkt/CET4 TEM4

　　V-T To detect something means to find it or discover that it is present somewhere by using equipment or making an investigation.探测

　　intersection/ˌɪntəˈsɛkʃən/CET6 TEM4

　　N-COUNT An intersection is a place where roads or other lines meet or cross.道路交叉口;交点

　　尽管如此，说实话，对于所有的过路按钮，无论是安慰剂还是真实的，可能以后都不会用了。在越来越多的路口，可以通过摄像机或红外和微波探测器检测等待通过的车辆，甚至计算出来。荷兰公司Dynniq最近在蒂尔堡的一个十字路口安装了一种智能手机上识别老人或残疾人的特殊应用程序，给这些人额外的5到12秒的时间。这真的很棒。

　　【拓展理解】

　　You reap what you sow

　　You reap what you sow意为「种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆；善有善报，恶有恶报」，有时亦写成You reap what you have sown，其中reap为「收割」，sow/soʊ/为「播种，种」，其动词三态为sow,sowed,sowed或sown。Sow/saʊ/亦可当名词用，意为「母猪」，但发音与动词不同。

　　这个谚语比较正式的说法是“as you sow,so shall you reap”(你怎样种就怎样收)或“as we sow,so shall we reap”(我们怎样种就怎样收)。You reap what you sow语出新约圣经加拉太书(Galatians)第6章第7节：”Do not be deceived,God is not mocked;for whatever a man sows,this he will also reap.”(不要自欺，神是轻慢不得的；人种的是什么，收的也是什么)。

　　尽管如此，说实话，对于所有的过路按钮，无论是安慰剂还是真实的，可能以后都不会用了。在越来越多的路口，可以通过摄像机或红外和微波探测器检测等待通过的车辆，甚至计算出来。更多英语阅读范文请持续关注奇速英语阅读频道：www.qisuabc.com