What Is Body Language?

施小军

语言是人们交际的工具，一般分为书面语言和口头语言两种。但是，在人们日常交流或其它多种场合下，还有一种重要的交流方式往往被人们所忽视，这就是身势语。那么，什么是身势语，在西方国家又是如何运用的呢？读完下文，聪明的你一定会明白很多。

Body language is the unspoken communication that goes on in every face-to-face interview with another human being. It tells you their true feelings towards you and how well your words are being received. Between  60%—80%  of  our message is communicated through our body language， only 7%—10% is attributable （归因于……的） to the actual words of a conversation.

Your ability to read and understand another person's body language can mean the difference between making a great impression or a very bad one！ It could help you in the job interview， the meeting， the business function， or on special date！

Every one of us has experienced that feeling of an instant （即刻的） like or dislike of someone but without necessarily knowing why.  We just weren't happy， there was something about them. We often refer to this as a hunch or gut feeling， two descriptions directly relating to our own body's physiological reaction.

Many of us have experienced the feeling that we have just been lied to， haven't we？ The words of the conversation probably weren't what we noticed as a direct lie. It was more likely to be the body movements and signals that gave them away. Darting （瞪） eyes， palms not visible， moving from one foot to another are cues （暗示）. All the cues are there. Our subconsciousness （下意識） picks them up， and if we're lucky enough to be perceptive， decodes （解读出） them and tells us that the words and gestures don't match！ Whenever there is a conflict between the words that someone says and their body signals and movements， we almost always believe their body！ So， being aware of the cues and signals being sent to you by others is an important skill if you want to understand a person's attitude towards you， regardless of what they are saying.

The most obvious use of body language is when we are flirting either in a social or business context， because when we flirt we are doing our very best to impress the other person or people. There are an amazing amount of crazy phrases and expressions that basically all come down to body language， we must pay more attention to them in our daily lives. I guarantee that you will notice a difference in people's attitudes and reactions towards you within days， if you not only change your own body language to be more positive and open， but you also take the time to notice and act upon theirs.