ost people do not have the patience to wait a few seconds for the elevator doors to shut, so they push the 'close' button to speed up the process.

大多数人没有等待电梯自动关闭的耐心（虽然这个过程只有几秒钟），所以他们按“关门”键来加快关门速度。

However, some say this feature has been obsolete¹ since the 1990s, suggesting the button is a complete fake it will not close the doors any faster.

然而，许多人称，自20世纪90年代起，电梯关门按键就已被淘汰，这说明目前的关门键完全是摆设，它们根本不会加快关门速度。

Experts reveal that there numerous buttons in the world that do not live up to their name, but are present to make us feel in control.

专家称虽然世界上有许多名不副实的按键，但它们的存在让我们有一种掌控感。

The Americans With Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, mandating² that elevators stay open long enough for someone with a physical disability, such as on crutches³ or in a wheelchair, to make it inside, Karen W. Penafiel, executive director of National Elevator Industry Inc., told Christopher Mele with The New York Times in an interview.

于1990年通过的《美国残疾人法案》要求电梯开门时间保持足够长，从而照顾身体残疾者，例如拄拐人士或坐轮椅者，方便他们进入电梯。国家电梯产业股份有限公司的执行总裁凯伦.Ｗ.佩尼亚菲耶尔在接受《纽约时报》的克里斯托弗.米尔采访时这样说道：

"Although these buttons are useless to the average person, they do perform their proper function for firefighters and maintenance workers but only with a code or designated keys."

“尽管这些按键对普通人而言没有作用，但对于使用密码或特定钥匙的消防员或维修人员来说，这些按键能够很好地发挥其作用。”

Penafiel explains since an elevator's lifespan is around 25 years, it is safe to say that a majority, if any, do not have a functioning 'close' button but the 'open' button works when it is pushed.

佩尼亚菲耶尔解释称，由于一部电梯的寿命在25年左右，我们大可以认为，就算大多数电梯的“关门”键都是不起作用的，但“开门”按键是有效的。

As bizarre as it seems to place fake buttons in an elevator or other devices, they are there for good reasons.

虽然在电梯或其他设备中安置一个假按键的行为似乎很奇怪，但这些假按键有着一定的存在原因。

'Perceived control is very important,' Ellen J. Langer, a psychology⁴ professor at Harvard University who has studied the illusion of control, told Mele in an email.

“具有自认为的控制感是很重要的，”曾研究控制错觉的哈佛大学心理学教授艾伦.J.朗格在给米尔的一封邮件中写道：

'It diminishes stress and promotes well-being⁵.'

“这种感觉能够减少人们的压力并且增加他们的幸福感。”

Another expert, John Kounios, a psychology professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said that these buttons are there to add an illusion of control if they weren't, people would feel a lack of control which is linked to depression.

另一位来自费城德雷塞尔大学的心理学教授约翰.库尼奥斯说，这些按键的存在是为了让人们产生一种控制错觉。如果没有这些按键，人们会感到缺乏控制力，从而引发抑郁。

And those people who know the little white lie will still continue to push these decoy buttons because the doors eventually close and that is the desired reward, he said.

他说，而对于知道这些按键没有作用，而只是善意骗局的人而言，他们还是会继续按这些按键，因为门最终会关上，而这就是他们想要的结果。

However, elevators aren't the only deceitful devices - crosswalk signals in New York City are also on the list.

然而，不止是电梯——纽约市人行横道的过马路按键标志也同样骗了我们。

The New York Times revealed in 2004 that the Big Apple pulled the plug on a majority of its pedestrian buttons long ago, as a result of computer-controlled traffic signals.

2004年《纽约时报》报道称，如今交通指示灯受电脑控制，所以纽约市早就拔去了大多数人行横道的按键电源。

City figures state that out of the 3,250 crosswalk buttons, 2,500 of them were replaced with mechanical placebos⁶, or non-functioning mechanisms⁷.

根据纽约州数据显示，总计3250个人行横道按键中被换为无效按键的有2500个。

The reason the buttons are still in place is because it costs about $1 million to remove them.

这些无效按键之所以还在，是因为移去它们大约需要花费100万美元。

But New York City isn't alone in this let down, as ABC conducted a survey in 2010 that found only one working crosswalk button in Austin Texas, Gainesville, Florida and Syracuse, New York.

但纽约市不是唯一一个安有大量无效人行横道按键的城市。根据美国广播公司2010年的调查，德克萨斯州的奥斯汀市、佛罗里达州的盖恩斯维尔市和纽约的锡拉丘兹市的人行横道都只有一个有用的按键。

Depending on where you work, you may not want to trust the thermostat⁸ that everyone has access to.

根据工作地点的不同，也许你不愿信任每个人都能操控的温度调节器。

In 2003, the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration News found that many offices install 'dummy⁹ thermostats¹⁰' 51 out of 71 people in the survey confirmed their office in fact has one.

2003年《空调，供暖和制冷新闻》发现，许多办公室安装的温度调节器“没有反应”。参加调查的71人中有51人承认他们的办公室里就有这样一个没用的调节器。

One respondent David Trimble of Fort Collins, Colorado, wrote The News that individuals 'felt better' that they have the ability to control the temperature in the office following the installation of a decoy thermostat.

科罗拉多州柯林斯堡的一位记者戴维.特林布尔在《新闻报》中写道，办公室在安装无效温度调节器后，人们会因为感到有能力掌控办公室温度而会“感到开心”。

'This cut down the number of service calls by over 75 percent,' he wrote.

他写道：“这减少了75%的维修请求。”