如果你看过美剧《Lie to Me》，一定会觉得剧中的故事不可思议：通过观察一个人的面部表情、肢体语言和语音语调，男主角Lightman博士就能判断一个人是否在说谎，以及为什么说谎。其实，只要掌握一些基本技巧，你也能识破生活中的谎言哦，一起来看看吧！

By James Borg 天心 选注

Society would quickly collapse were it not for the dozens of tiny lies we permit ourselves every day. Mostly we use this for simple good manners. For instance, when breaking up with a partner, we reassure them that “It’s not you, it’s me”, when in reality it most certainly is them.

We all learn to lie at such a young age: every parent will recognise the moment where a child first puts their hand to their mouth before stating a blatant lie. From that moment, we get steadily better at lying as we grow older, gradually refining our technique until by full adulthood we are all experts in the art of deception.

Of all human social behaviours, it is perhaps the hardest to detect. That said, there are various things we can look out for to help us know when someone is lying.

Are they just nervous?

Lying can have very similar symptoms to anxiety. In many situations when we might be tempted to lie, we can also simply be nervous—trying to cover up our mistakes or woo a possible partner. The trick is to establish what a person’s “baseline” behaviour is, and then look for deviations. If someone is normally relaxed, then, blinking and quick eye movement, licking of the lips and touching of the face can all denote lying.

Covering up

Look for gestures that suggest hiding the face or body. Touching the nose is a classic symptom of anxiety. Bill Clinton, when testifying before a grand jury about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, adopted neutral body language when giving obviously true answers. But when he was being quizzed more exactly, he touched his nose every four minutes, or 26 times.

Excessive fidgeting

Look for scratching or fiddling with clothing. If you are lying and want to disguise it, keep your eyes and your hands calm without seeming unnatural. Nobody looks as nervous as somebody trying not to.

Smiling through

Despite the image of the “grinning liar”, studies have found that people smile more when they are telling the truth.

Trust your instinct

We are often more adept at lie-detection intuitively than scientifically. In the end, the old adage is probably correct: if you suspect someone is lying, they probably are.

Vocabulary

collapse 崩溃，瓦解

for instance 例如，比如

reassure 安慰，使消除疑虑

blatant 极明显的

refine 使变得更完善

deception 欺骗，蒙蔽

look out for 搜寻（某人或某物）

symptom 症状

cover up 掩盖，掩饰

woo 追求，向（女子）求爱（或求婚）

deviation 背离，违反

denote 表示，是……的标志

grand jury 大陪审团

neutral 不引起（或不反映）变化的

fidget 坐立不安，烦躁

scratch 抓，搔痒

fiddle with 无目的地用手拨弄

grin 咧嘴而笑

adept at 擅长

intuitively 直觉地

adage 格言，谚语

（来源：英语学习杂志）