These words all describe sth that is easy to see or understand and leaves no doubts or confusion. 以上各词均形容事物显而易见、明白易懂、清楚、明确。

• clear easy to see or understand and leaving no doubts 指显而易见的、明白易懂的、清楚的、明确的：◆It was quite clear to me that she was lying. 我十分清楚她在撒谎。
• obvious easy to see or understand 指明显的、显然的、易理解的：◆It's obvious from what he said that something is wrong. 根据他所说的，显然是出问题了。
• apparent [not usually before noun] (rather formal) easy to see or understand 指显而易见、明白易懂、显然：◆It was apparent from her face that she was really upset. 从面容上一眼就可以看出她确实心绪烦乱。
• evident (rather formal) easy to see or understand 指清楚的、明白的、显然的：◆The orchestra played with evident enjoyment. 管弦乐队演奏得兴致勃勃。
• plain easy to see or understand 指清楚的、明显的、浅白的：◆He made it very plain that he wanted us to leave. 他明确表示要我们离开。

which word? 词语辨析

• These words all have almost exactly the same meaning. There are slight differences in register and patterns of use. If you make sth clear/plain, you do so deliberately because you want people to understand sth; if you make sth obvious, you usually do it without meaning to. 以上各词意思几乎相同，只是在语体风格和句型使用上稍有区别。make sth clear/plain 表示刻意为使别人明白；make sth obvious 通常并非刻意：◆I hope I make myself obvious.◆Try not to make it so clear/plain.In the expressions clear majority, for obvious reasons, for no apparent reason and plain to see, none of the other words can be used instead. You can have a clear/an obvious/a plain case of sth but not◆an evident case of sth 在 clear majority（明显多数）、for obvious reasons（因为显而易见的原因）、for no apparent reason（没有明显的原因）和 plain to see（显而易见）中，表示 “明显” 的词不能替换。可以用 clear/obvious/plain case of sth（明显的情况），但不能用 an evident case of sth。

Patterns

• clear/obvious/apparent/evident/plain to sb/sth
• clear/obvious/apparent/evident/plain that/what/who/how/where/why…
• to seem/become/make sth clear/obvious/apparent/evident/plain
• perfectly/quite/very clear/obvious/apparent/evident/plain

Referring to a chart, graph or table 描述图或表

• ◆This bar chart illustrates how many journeys people made on public transport over a three-month period. 这个柱状图显示三个月期间人们乘坐公共交通往来的次数。
• ◆This table compares bus, train, and taxi use between April and June. 这个表比较了四月至六月公交车、火车和出租车的使用情况。
• ◆The results are shown in the chart below. 结果显示在下面的图表中。
• ◆In this pie chart, the survey results are broken down by age. 在这个饼分图中，调查结果按年龄划分。
• ◆This pie chart breaks down the survey results by age. 这个饼分图按年龄对调查结果进行分类。
• ◆ As can be seen from these results, younger people use buses more than older people. 从结果可以看出，年轻人比老年人乘坐公交车的频率更高。
• ◆ According to these figures, bus travel accounts for 60% of public transport use. 从这些数字看，乘坐公交车出行占公共交通使用率的 60%。
• ◆ From the data in the above graph, it is apparent that buses are the most widely used form of public transport. 从上图的数据明显看出：公交车是公共交通中使用最广泛的类型。