英语同义词辨析——明显的、清楚的(形容词)
国家公务员试题-高三数学教学工作总结
辨析：evident, manifest, distinct, obvious,
apparent, clear,
plain
The central meaning
shared by these adjectives is “readily seen,
perceived, or
understood”
这些形容词共有的一个中心意思为“
易见的，易察的，易明白的”。这组形容词
都有“清楚的”或“明显的”意思。
evident
:
在善于修辞的作者笔下，总包含一定的迹象。多用于推理及抽象的事,
指“明显的”。
1. It's evident that someone has been here.
显然有人来过这里。
2. We are so familiar with the fact
that man ages, that people have for years assumed
that the process of losing vigor with time, of
becoming more likely to die the older
we get,
was something self-evident, like the cooling of
a hot kettle or
the wearing-out of a pair
of shoes. 我们都非常熟悉人总是要衰老的这样一个
事实，以致多年来人们就认为，随着时
光的流逝而丧失活力或者越衰老就越
可能死掉这一过程是不言而喻的，正像一壶热水会冷却，一双鞋子会
穿破一
样。
3. It's evident that the plan is
impracticable. 很明显这计划是不能实现的。
manifest
:
Manifest的含义是完全表现在外面，即所谓如此“明显”，不需要推理
便可辨别。
1. Surely because progress of a particular
kind is actually taking place around us and
is
becoming more and more manifest.
无疑是因为某种特殊的进步确实地正在
我们周围发生，而且正在变得越来越明显。
2.
He is a manifest liar [„laiə]. 他显然是个说谎的人
。
distinct
:
指的是轮廓或意义清晰，不需要费力便可看得出来。如：distinct
handwriting。
此外，distinct还表示听起来“清晰”。这两层含义的内涵都是被修
饰物与其它
同类东西之间有着截然的不同。
1. The earth‟s shadow on the
moon was quite distinct. 月球上的地球阴影很清晰。
2. There
is a distinct improvement in your study.
你的学习有显著进步。
3. Though they talked in a low
voice, they could be heard distinctly.
他们谈话的声
音虽然很低，但他们说的什么是能听得清清楚楚的。
4. Silk is
distinct from rayon [„reiɔn] in every respect.
在各个方面真丝跟人造丝
截然不同。(另义)
obvious
:
所表示的“明显的”强调容易发现，常常用于修饰或说明那些本想掩
盖而又没有能掩盖彻底的事情。指
“容易知道或发现, 无须解释或证明的”。
1. The rope had been cut,
so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.
绳子是被
割断的，因此这只羊羔显然是被偷去的。
注：
此句中的obvious
换用evident则更确切。
2. He is the stereotyped
monster of the horror films and the adventure
books, and an
obvious (though not perhaps
strictly scientific) link with our ancestral past.
它们
是恐怖电影和惊险小说中的老一套的怪物，并且与我们的祖先有着明显的(虽
然可能没有科
学的) 联系。
3. It's obvious that a man isn't
strong enough to lift an elephant. 很明显,
一个人是
不能举起大象的。
apparent
：
apparen
t的常见意义大致有两个，其一为“表面上的”或“看上去
似乎像的”，这一含义的同义词为seemi
ng；另一含义才是“明显的”。作为“明
显的”这层含义，apparent与evident很难区
别，apparent强调根据迹象进行仔细
的推理，最后才看得出是“明显的”。还可指“思想上容易
理解的”。
1. It later became apparent that rabbits
were developing a degree of resistance to this
disease. 后来清楚了，野兔对这种疾病逐渐产生了一定程度的抵抗力。
2.
Apparently what happened was that water collected
on these tar pits, and the
bigger animals like
the elephants ventured out on to the apparently
firm surface to
drink, and were
promptly bogged in the tar.
显然，情况是这样的：这些焦油坑
上积了水，
类似大象这样较大的动物冒险走上了那似乎是坚硬的表面去喝水，
就马上陷入焦油坑里去了。
3. It's apparent that you can't be trusted.
很显然, 你是不可信赖的。
clear
：
(以及常见的plain)是
口语中常用词，其含义为“清楚易懂的”。clear
除
了“清楚的”，“清晰的”之外，还有许多其它含义。如“流畅的”，“无障碍的”
等。
1. The water of the lake is as clear as glass.
湖水清彻如同明镜。
2. He gave a clear answer to the
direct question. 他对那个直截了当的问题作了清
晰的答复。
plain
：
除了“清楚的”、“浅显的”之外，也有些别的含义。如：a
plain face (一
个普通的或不漂亮的面孔)。
1. The letter
was written in plain English. 那封信是用浅近的英语写的。
2.
He made it plain that he did not like me.
他很明白地说他不喜欢我。