VOA慢速英语2015 如何抓住一个骗子

Can You Catch a Liar¹? 如何抓住一个骗子

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

这里是VOA健康生活频道

What is the best way to catch someone who is telling a lie?

鉴别谎言最好的方法是什么？

For a long time, the traditional method of identifying liars² was to watch their body language, including facial expressions.

长期以来，传统的测谎方式是观察肢体语言包括面部表情

What if the person appears to be nervous? Is the person unable to look me in the eye? Is he or she looking around the room? What about other nervous movements, such as fidgeting or shifting from side to side?

如果这个人表现的很紧张？不能直视我的眼睛？到处看四周？以及其他紧张举动，比如坐立不安，到处走来走去？

Many people – from parents to police officers and airport security personnel – depend on this method. But does a person's body and face reveal the truth?

大部分人，从家长、警察到机场安全人员，都是依赖这种方法鉴别说谎。但是身体语言透露出的信息又能在多大程度上反映事实的真相呢？

Not according to a new study.

最新调查显示，这其实毫无依据

Talking, it seems, is the best way to smoke out a liar. That is what researchers in the United Kingdom found out recently. Their investigation³ took place at one place where lying can get you into big trouble – an airport.

谈话，看上去是最能够检验出谎言的手段。英国科学家在机场进行了谎言测试。

The researchers asked volunteers to pretend they were real passengers and then lie to airport security agents. Some of the agents used spoken conversation-based methods to question these make-believe passengers. Others depended instead on the person's body language, like lack of eye contact and showing signs of nervousness.

研究人员要求志愿者假装自己是真的乘客，向机场工作人员撒谎。一些安检人员用常规问话的方式确认这些人说话的可信度，还有一些是通过观察肢体语言，

The agents talking with the passengers were 20 times more likely to catch the liars. The study found that these conversation-based techniques can help you recognize when a person is lying to you.

那些和乘客做交流的安检人员比单纯观察肢体语言安检人员发现说谎话概率高出20倍。研究表明，有科学性的文化有利于识别谎言。

Like many methods, this conversation method has a name. It is called Controlled Cognitive⁴ Engagement or CCE, for short.

和其他方法一样，这些对话交流也有专业名词，叫做控制认知参与，或者CCE。

The British government partly financed this study. The American Psychological Association published the findings.

英国政府对研究投入了一部分资金

Body language cannot be trusted

身体语言不可信

Using body language and facial expressions to catch someone in a lie is really hard. And it only works, seemingly, by chance.

用身体语言和脸部表情识别谎言很困难，而且很碰巧才会成功

Thomas Ormerod is the head of the School of Psychology⁵ at the University of Sussex in England. On the APA website, he reported that the “suspicious-signs method” -- or using body language – “almost completely fails” in finding lies.

Thomas是英国苏塞克斯大学心理学院院长。在APA网站上，他表示“身体语言测谎有效性值得怀疑。”

In the conversational⁶ CCE method, security agents just talk with passengers. They ask about informal things as you would in a normal conversation. While talking, the agents might ask questions about topics that are seemingly unrelated. Then the agent observes if the person becomes more evasive or erratic⁷. They also observe is their way of speaking changes.

而新的CCE方法，安检人员只要和乘客交流，问一些日常问题，甚至一些无关紧要的话题，观察乘客是否变得越来越躲闪。以及观察说话方式的改变。

In an article on the APA website, Ormerod says that for actual passengers, they are “just chatting about themselves. It shouldn't feel like an interrogation.”

在APA网站上一篇文章，ormerod表示对于真正的乘客来说，对话过程就像是聊天，而不是询问。

Here are four ways of catching⁸ a liar.

下面有4种方法可以识别说谎者

1. Use open-ended questions

1.多问是否问题

These are the opposite of “Yes" and "No” questions. Open-ended questions force the person to stretch the story of their lies until they caught in their own web of lies.

用是否让说谎者自乱阵脚

2. Use the element of surprise

2出其不意

Ask questions they may not think you are going to ask. Ask questions that are surprising or off-topic. This will make it harder for them to keep lying. Or better still ask them to re-tell an event backwards⁹ in time, going from the most recent event to the earliest. This is hard enough to do with the truth, let alone a story of lies.

问一些出人意料的问题。和话题无关紧要。让说谎者觉得很难在圆谎下去。或者最好叫他们把故事再说一遍，或者倒着说一遍。把事实叙述一遍已经很难了，更何况是说谎

3. Look for small details that do not add up or, in other words, make sense.

3：观察细节

Ask them details about their story and look for facts that seem in disagreement with each other. But do not let them know you know. Just let them dig themselves deeper into a hole.

问一些细节问题，看看是否符合事实说法，但是不要让说谎者发现

4. Watch for changes in confidence and speaking styles

4.观察说话人的底气和说话方式

Liars will often change their speaking style when they are questioned. For example, when they feel in control they may be very talkative. But if they feel they are losing control, they may not talk much at all.

说谎者在受到询问的时候经常改变说话方式。比如，当他们觉得自己话题在可控制范围的时候，会表现的很健谈，失去控制的时候就很少说话了。

Words in This Story

fidget – v. to make a lot of small movements because you are nervous, bored, etc. : to move or act in a nervous or restless way

shift – v. to move or to cause (something or someone) to move to a different place, position, etc. shifty - adj. having an appearance or way of behaving that seems dishonest

smoke out – v. to drive out by or as if by smoke :  to cause to be made public

pretend – v. to act as if something is true when it is not true : to imagine and act out

make-believe – n. things that are imagined or pretended to be true or real

evasive – adj. not honest or direct

erratic – adj. acting¹⁰, moving, or changing in ways that are not expected or usual : not consistent or regular

interrogate¹¹ – v. to ask (someone) questions in a thorough and often forceful way

web – n. a net made from silk threads woven together by a spider — often used figuratively — often + of

He was caught in a web of lies.

a tangled¹² web of deceit/deception

contradiction – n. the act of saying something that is opposite or very different in meaning to something else

do not add up – informal expression If a situation does not add up, there is no reasonable or ?likely explanation for it

dig a hole for yourself – informal expression to get yourself into a ?difficult situation

1 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

2 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

6 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

7 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

8 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

9 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 interrogate   

vt.讯问，审问，盘问

参考例句：

• The lawyer took a long time to interrogate the witness fully.律师花了很长时间仔细询问目击者。
• We will interrogate the two suspects separately.我们要对这两个嫌疑人单独进行审讯。

12 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。