如果你看過美劇《Lie to Me》，一定會覺得劇中的故事不可思議：通過觀察一個人的面部表情、肢體語言和語音語調，男主角Lightman博士就能判斷一個人是否在說謊，以及為什么說謊。其實，只要掌握一些基本技巧，你也能識破生活中的謊言哦，一起來看看吧！

By James Borg 天心 選注

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 崩潰，瓦解

for instance 例如，比如

reassure 安慰，使消除疑慮

blatant 極明顯的

refine 使變得更完善

deception 欺騙，蒙蔽

look out for 搜尋（某人或某物）

symptom 癥狀

cover up 掩蓋，掩飾

woo 追求，向（女子）求愛（或求婚）

deviation 背離，違反

denote 表示，是……的標志

grand jury 大陪審團

neutral 不引起（或不反映）變化的

fidget 坐立不安，煩躁

scratch 抓，搔癢

fiddle with 無目的地用手撥弄

grin 咧嘴而笑

adept at 擅長

intuitively 直覺地

adage 格言，諺語

（來源：英語學習雜志）