Abstract:
 As a communicative tool, language is very important in intercultural communication. However, body language plays a complementary role to help people transfer information and improve communication. It is an indispensable power to avoid language obstacles in intercultural communication. In the 21st century, as the economic and cultural exchange of all countries becomes more and more frequent, there appear more obstacles caused by the differences of languages and cultures. In the intercultural communication, one of the most useful ways to overcome the obstacles is to understand the meanings of body language of different cultures. However, even if we understand the meanings of some body language, there are also some difficulties, because even the same body language has different meanings in different background. Using body language wrongly would not only make you fail in interpersonal communication, but also cause conflicts in intercultural communication. Based on the experience of the forefathers, this essay discusses and analyzes various usages and functions of body language in different culture background.

Key words：body language; intercultural communication; cultural difference

摘  要：
作为一种交流工具，语言在跨文化交际中发挥着很重要的作用。而身姿语却在帮助人们传递信息，促进交流方面起着辅助作用，并在跨文化交际中，成为避开语言障碍的不可忽视的力量。21世纪，随着国际经济文化交流的加深，由于语言，文化的差异而产生的障碍越来越多，在跨文化交际中，消除障碍最有效的办法之一就是了解不同文化中身姿语的含义。然而即使我们对身姿语有所了解，我们仍然面临一些困难，身姿语含义千变万化，即使同一身姿语在不同的文化背景下有着不同的含义。错误地使用身姿语不仅会使我们在人际交往中失败，而且会造成跨文化交际中的冲突。本篇论文在借鉴前人成果的基础上讨论并分析了各种身姿语在不同文化背景下的用法和功能。

关键词：身姿语；跨文化交际；文化差异

In the modern society, people of different countries in the world communicate with each other frequently. At the same time, people speaking different languages have different cultural background, way of living, faith of religion and personal values. All these factors intervene in the communication of people from different countries. When a Chinese meets an American friend, would the kissing given by the American be offensive for the Chinese? If two young friends of the same sex walk with their arms around each other’s shoulders, would this be regarded as being proper by English-speaking people? Does nodding mean “Yes” and does shaking one’s head mean “No” in all countries? Maybe nobody can give a positive or a negative answer about the above questions. Because the same behavior in different cultures has different meanings. Language is an important tool in intercultural communication. But when people talk with each other, they not only communicate with language, but also with some gestures and poses, which we call body language. It is composed of body distance, facial behavior, eye contact and so on.