Abstract: The earliest communicative activity started from body language. Before human language began, hand gestures, facial expressions and so on had become basic communicative ways. However, the system research on body language began in modern times. Body language possesses truth, intuition and richness. It is not difficult to imagine that our language will become so tedious without facial expressions, gestures and so on. Body language both has commonness and individuality, which is so complicated. But consider its practical applications, especially when we encounter language barriers, we may break the deadlock and build a communicative bridge with a smile, a nod and shaking hands. We should make a study on body language and its significance. Therefore, the author wants to narrow down the field of body language and make a research from the angle of Chinese and English cultures, then we may learn more about the similarities and differences of body language in Chinese and English cultures.
Key Words: body language; cross-cultural communication; cultural differences; similarities

摘 要：人类最早的交际活动就是从体态动作交流开始的，在人类语言产生之前，手势，面部表情等成为彼此之间交流的基本方式，而对体态语的系统研究还是近代的事。体态语真实，直观，丰富。不难想象没有面部表情，头势，手势等体态语的辅助，我们的语言交际将会是多么单调和乏味，体态语集共性与个性于一身，极具复杂性。但考虑到其实用意义，特别是当我们在交际中遇到语言障碍时，一个微笑，点头，握手都能打破僵局，构建起交际的桥梁，我们又不得不研究探讨体态语所具备的重要意义。所以，作者想从中英文化的角度来缩小研究肢体语言的范围，从而可以更加清楚的了解中英文化下肢体语言的异同。
关键词：肢体语言；跨文化交际；文化差异；相似性

Since the dawn of mankind, the language comes into people’s lives in silence. It can help people to communicate with each other and promote the progress of the society. Although it occupies an important position in the culture system and life style, the efforts on exploring relationship between language and culture never take a leading position. Fortunately, people have recognized the importance and influence of the language in the 1960s, and since then, the language rooted in the society and culture has become the focus of the persistent research.