When was the last time you gave or received a hug (拥抱)? Do your parents hug you before you go to school? In Western countries, it is quite common to greet close friends or relatives with a hug.

You might hug your teammates after winning a basketball game. 【小题1】 Friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time will usually hug each other when meeting.

【小题2】 After coming to China, I’ve noticed that the Chinese seem unwilling to hug.

My Chinese friends tell me that hugging is considered to be very intimate (亲密的) in their culture. 【小题3】 Chinese people don’t usually hug in public. But people’s attitudes towards hugging can also change.

I remember watching a video story about a “hugging party” that was held in shanghai. 【小题4】 The Chinese who took part in the party looked uncomfortable. However, after the party, several of them changed their minds. 【小题5】 So next time you see your parents, give them a hug and see how it makes you feel.

Body language is the quiet, secret and most powerful language of all! It is said that our body movements communicate about 50 percent of what we really mean while words only express 7 percent. So, while your mouth is closed, your body is just saying…

Arms. How you hold your arms shows how open and receptive you are to people you meet. If you keep your arms to the sides of your body or behind your back, this suggests you are not afraid of taking on whatever comes your way. Outgoing people generally use their arms with big movements, while quieter people keep them close to their bodies. If someone upsets you, just cross your arms to show you’re unhappy!

Head. When you want to appear confident, keep your head level. If you are a monitor in class, you can also take on this position when you want your words to be taken seriously. However, to be friendly in listening or speaking, you must move your head a little.

Legs. Your legs tend to move around a lot more than normal when you are nervous or telling lies. If you are at interviews, try to keep them still!

Posture (姿势). A good posture makes you feel better about yourself. If you are feeling down, you normally don’t sit straight, with your shoulders inwards. This makes breathing more difficult, which can make you feel nervous or uncomfortable.

Mouth. When you are thinking, you often purse (皱起) your lips. You might also use this position to hold back an angry comment you don’t wish to show. However, it will probably still be noticed, and people will know you’re not pleased.

Face. When you lie, you might put on a false face. But that expression would crack briefly, allowing displays of true emotions such as happiness, sadness, disgust (厌恶) and fear to come through.

We talked with June Galloway about her book Get off on the Right Foot: Don’t Let the Wrong Gesture Ruin (毁坏) Your Day.

English is the world’s international language. But in your book, non-verbal (不用语言的) communication is paid more attention to.      ▲     

June: Well, gestures (手势) and other body language can have different meanings in different places. Something that you think is friendly or polite could be considered to be very impolite in another culture. I’ve described many of these customs and cultural differences, so my readers won’t have a bad start when they meet people from places where the culture is different from their own.

Can greeting someone the wrong way really lead to misunderstanding (误解)?

June: In some places, yes. The heavy handshake that a North American expects may seem quite impolite in other places. And a light handshake―which is usual in some countries—may seem unfriendly to a North American.

What other gestures can cause misunderstanding?

June: Take the gesture for “come here” for example. In North America, people gesture with the palm (掌心) up. Well, in southern Europe, that gesture means “goodbye”. And in many Asian countries, the palm-up gesture is thought rude. Instead, people there gesture with the palm down.

Surely, there must be some gestures used everywhere, right? What about the thumb-up (翘拇指) gesture for “great”?

June: Sorry. That’s very rude in Australia and the Middle East. That is why it important to know about body language and cultural differences.

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