Abstract：
Generally speaking, human communication consists of verbal communication and nonverbal communication. We all know verbal communication is arguably very important to communication, but we often ignore another one---nonverbal communication. As an important part of nonverbal communication, body language is a significant channel to express people’s attitude and feelings and it is more effective in expressing one’s emotions than spoken and written language in certain circumstances.
Body language includes personal space, eye contact, gestures, posture, facial expressions, touching behavior and so on. We should realize that body language is a part of culture. Though there are similarities between body language in different cultures, there are also differences between body language. These differences are the major barriers to cross-cultural communication. Therefore, it’s necessary to study cultural differences of body language in cross-cultural communication. This paper mainly contrasts cultural differences of body language between English and Chinese by analyzing examples in personal space, eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, posture, touching behavior and silence. The purpose of the research is to help Chinese people understand the cultural differences between Chinese and English body language and raise their awareness of making a good use of body language so that they can avoid making mistakes when they communicate with native speakers. Understanding different cultural implications of body language can promote people’s cross-cultural communication competence, reinforce mutual understanding and in the end will benefit the communication between Chinese people and native speakers.

Key Words：body language; cross-cultural communication; different cultures; analysis

摘  要：
简单来说，人类的交际分为言语交际和非言语交际。毫无疑问，大家都知道言语交际对人类的行为举止有着很重要的影响，但是却忽略了另一种方式--非言语交际。身势语，作为非言语交际的重要部分, 它是人们表情达意的重要方式，在某些情况下，身势语比有声语言和文字语言更具有表现力。
身势语包括体距、眼神、手势、身势、面部表情、体触等等。我们应该意识到，身势语是文化的一部分。在不同文化中，尽管身势语有相似之处，但是身势语随不同文化而变化。这些差异已经成为影响人们有效交际的一大主要障碍。因此，我们必须学习跨文化交际中的身势语的差异。本文通过举例法从体距、眼神、手势、面部表情、身势、体触和沉默语方面来分析中英身势语的对比差异。旨在帮助中国人了解中英身势语文化的差异，使其能更好的运用身势语，从而在与英语国家人民的交际中减少失误。了解身势语的不同文化内涵，有助于中国人与英语国家人民之间更好地交流，提高跨文化交际能力，增进感情，加深理解，做到相得益彰。

关键词：身势语；跨文化交际 ；不同文化 ；分析