Her lips droop， her eyes descend， and her head jerks around the room. Whenever Theresa May speaks， it's easy to be distracted by her repetitive facial gestures. According to experts，these are more pronounced than those of most other world leaders.
她的嘴唇耷拉，眼睛下垂，头朝着房间各个方向猝然转动。每当特雷莎·梅讲话时，她一再出现的面部动作很容易让人分心。据专家说，她的这些动作比其他大多数世界领导人更为明显。
Her speech was illustrative: many of those following along on Twitter struggled to concentrate on her big policy announcement – a promise of a vote on a second EU referendum – because of the Prime Minister's noticeable facial movements， which seem to emerge most strongly when she is stressed or under immense pressure.
她的讲话很能说明问题：在推特上关注这次讲话的许多人很难全神贯注于她所发布的重大政策声明——承诺就第二次脱欧公投进行表决——原因就在于这位首相明显的面部动作，在她感到紧张或承受重压时，这些动作似乎来得最为猛烈。
Many of May's facial quirks arise from her “staccato”speaking style， says body language expert Judi James， author of The Body Language Bible， who contrasts May's stop-and-startyness with the smooth， elegant delivery of David Cameron. It's easy to laugh at the Prime Minister， but James says that many of us exhibit May-style body language when facing the heat in a job interview or first date.
著有《肢体语言宝典》的肢体语言专家朱迪·詹姆斯说，梅的许多面部怪癖源自她“断断续续”的讲话风格。詹姆斯还对比了梅的时断时续与戴维·卡梅伦流畅优雅的话风。现任首相很容易成为被嘲讽的对象，不过詹姆斯说，我们许多人在求职面试或初次约会面对压力时会展现出梅式肢体语言。
Among the most pernicious of the Prime Minister's tics are her “denial gestures”， James says， when her subliminal facial expression seems to contradict her words. She commonly exhibits a “mouth slew”.
詹姆斯说，这位首相习惯性动作中最要命的一个是她的“否定动作”，也就是她潜意识下的面部表情似乎与言语矛盾的时候。她通常表现为“嘴巴侧歪”。
“It looks like a tragic clown's mouth [and] unfortunately for her it comes up on the cameras quite a lot，” James says. “It's often an incongruence display， in which case it would be revealing her true feelings when she's speaking. We saw that yesterday right at the end of her speech. She got through the speech， and then performed a mouth slew before she answered questions.
詹姆斯说：“那看起来像是悲剧小丑的嘴，对她来说，遗憾的是，以这副样子出现在镜头前的时候很多。这经常是心口不一的表现，在这种情况下会暴露她讲话时的真实想法。我们昨天（5月21日）就在她讲话结束时看到了这个动作。她讲话完毕，然后在回答问题前让嘴巴歪向一侧。”
“It rubbishes everything you've said. It's like telling someone you love them and then rolling your eyes. None of us are good liars， and I actually think deep down she's a very honest person， and it doesn't suit her to have to speak like that.”
“这将你所说的一切一笔勾销。这就好比对人说你爱他们，然后翻白眼。我们都不擅长说谎，我确实认为在内心深处她是一个非常诚实的人，非要这样说话不适合她。”
The most effective way to rid yourself of these dastardly “denial gestures” is also the simplest: try to actually believe in what you're saying， even if you initially find yourself repelled by it. Before giving an important presentation， sit down and remind yourself of the stronger parts of your argument. Before walking into a job interview，remind yourself of your key strengths， rather than your weaknesses.
让自己摆脱这种怯懦的“否定动作”的最有效方法也是最简单的：试着真正相信你在说的话，哪怕你在一开始对此存在反感。在做重要陈述之前，坐下来提醒自己你的论点中比较有说服力的地方。在进入求职面试环节之前，提醒自己你的主要优势而不是你的弱点。
May also appears fond of the “cut-off gesture”， James says， commonly looking down at her notes just as she reaches a key line. This reared its head yesterday when she tried to insert “an optimistic bit” into her speech， telling the crowd that she wanted a “country that works for everyone”. Upbeat optimism is not May's natural style，James says， and the nervous eye gesture gave that way.
詹姆斯说，梅似乎也喜欢做出“断开动作”，通常在她讲到关键的句子时低头看讲稿。昨天这种情况又出现了，当时她试图在自己的讲话中加入“一点乐观成分”，告诉大家她想要一个“对所有人都适用的国家”。詹姆斯说，积极向上的乐观并非梅与生俱来的风格，而紧张的眼部动作暴露了这一点。
“I've seen lots of other world leaders do this， including the great Obama. If they were completely sold and passionate about their [words]， that would be the moment it's there in their head， and so they wouldn't need to read it because their eyes would be on the audience. That， for me， is the most dangerously incongruent part. That's where people won't believe what she's got to say.”
“我看过许多其他世界领导人做这样的事情，包括了不起的奥巴马。如果他们对自己的（话）深信不疑并充满热情，那个时候这句话会浮现在他们脑海中，所以无需读出来，因为他们的眼睛会注视着听众。在我看来，那是最危险的心口不一之处。那一刻，人们不会相信她要说的话。”
If writing out notes for a speech or job interview， perhaps put a symbol next to an important phrase， reminding yourself to maintain eye contact with whoever you're speaking to.
如果为演讲或求职面试写讲稿，也许可以在某个重要措辞旁加个记号，提醒自己与听众保持目光接触，不管对方是什么人。
Not every facial tic is a sign of dishonesty or “incongruence”， James says – some are just a sign of stress.
詹姆斯说，并非所有面部习惯性动作都是不诚实或“心口不一”的标志，有些只是紧张的表现。
Of these stress-induced habits， her most common is the “head jerk”， in which she tosses her head in various directions around the room in a mechanical， almost-robotic style.
在这些紧张诱发的习惯行为中，她最常见的是“头部急转”，以机械的、近乎机器人的方式让头朝着房间各个方向甩动。
The best way to avoid these stress-related tics is simply through practice， James says. “Do what all the top leaders that are good do: sit yourself down， maybe with your friends， and do a role-play job interview. Get them to throw really tricky questions at you， ridiculously hard ones to answers. When you've managed all that and had a laugh doing it， your body begins to learn that this doesn't have to make you stressed.”
詹姆斯说，要避免这种与紧张有关的习惯性动作，最好的办法就是反复练习。“做所有优秀的顶尖领导者都会做的事情：让自己坐下来，或许和朋友一起，然后分角色演练一下求职面试。让他们向你抛出十分棘手的问题，极其难以作答的问题。当你能够应付这一切并且乐在其中时，你的身体会开始发现，这没什么可紧张的。”（李凤芹译自英国《每日电讯报》网站5月22日文章）
