怎麼知道他是不是個騙子？
How to Spot a Liar?

The professor spotted lots of typos in the paper.
教授在報告中發現了很多打字錯誤。

The suspect was convicted of obtaining money by deception.
這名嫌犯被判詐財。

Everyone feigned surprise when she told them how old she is.
當她告訴他們她的年齡時，每個人故作驚訝。

The classroom was adorned with paintings.
教室裝飾著風景畫。

Tommy was disguised as a beggar.
Tommy 喬裝成乞丐。

The employee had accused him of falsehood before.
這名員工以前就曾指控他欺騙。

They swindled the company out of ten million dollars.
他們詐騙了該公司一千萬元。

The police office was hoodwinked into thinking the cucumber was a pistol.
警察被誤導認為那根黃瓜是支手槍。

The doctor examined the girl carefully, looking for telltale signs of abuse.
醫生仔細檢查女孩身上是否有被虐待的明顯證據。

Accomplished liars will beat polygraphs and mislead interrogators.
老練的騙子能騙過測謊器並誤導審問者。

How to Spot a Liar?

However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally to all living things. Birds do it by feigning injury to lead hungry predators away from their nesting young. Spider crabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with strips of kelp and other debris, they pretend to be something they are not—and so escape their enemies. Nature amply rewards successful deceivers by allowing them to survive long enough to mate and reproduce. So it may come as no surprise to learn that human beings—who, according to psychologist Gerald Jellison of the University of South California, are lied to about 200 times a day, roughly one untruth every 5 minutes—often deceive for exactly the same reasons: to save their own skins or to get something they can’t get by other means.

But knowing how to detect deceit can be just as important a survival skill as knowing how to tell a lie and get away with it. A person able to spot falsehood quickly is unlikely to be swindled by an unscrupulous business associate or hoodwinked by a devious spouse. Luckily, nature provides more than enough clues to trap dissemblers in their own tangled webs, if you know where to look. By closely observing facial expressions, body language and tone of voice, practically anyone can recognize the telltale signs of lying. Researchers are even programming computers, like those used on lie detectors—to get at the truth by analyzing the same physical cues available to the naked eye and ear. “With the proper training, many people can learn to reliably detect lies,” says Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, who has spent the past 15 years studying the secret art of deception.

In order to know what kind of lies work best, successful liars need to accurately assess other people’s emotional states. Ekman’s research shows that this same emotional intelligence is essential for good lie detectors, too. The emotional state to watch out for is stress, the conflict most liars feel between the truth and what they actually say and do.

Even high-tech lie detectors don’t detect lies as such; they merely detect the physical cues of emotions, which may or may not correspond to what the person being tested is saying. Polygraphs, for instance, measure respiration, heart rate and skin conductivity, which tend to increase when people are nervous, as they usually are when lying. Nervous people typically perspire, and the salt contained in perspiration conducts electricity. That’s why sudden leap in skin conductivity indicates nervousness, about getting caught, perhaps, which might, in turn, suggest that someone is being economical with the truth. On the other hand, it might also mean that the lights in the television studio are too hot—which is one reason polygraph tests are inadmissible in court. “Good lie detectors don’t rely on a single thing, ” says Ekman, "but...