light 是一个词性丰富的单词，一般译为“光，光线，光亮”时，是不可数名词，例如：The light was beginning to fail.天色渐暗。She could just see by the light of the candle.她借着烛光勉强能看见。Bring it into the light so I can see it.把它拿到亮的地方，好让我看见。light 也可以作为可数名词，译为“（某种特性或颜色的）光；发光体，电灯”等，例如：A cold grey light crept under the curtains.一丝幽暗阴冷的光从窗帘下面透过来。A light was still burning in the bedroom.卧室里依然亮着灯。
在 in (the) light of 中 light 虽是名词，但它不译为“光”或“电灯”等，所以 in (the) light of 跟光没关系，不要译为“在什么光之下”，它是一个习语，意思丰富，可以译为“根据，按照，鉴于，由于，考虑到”等意思，例如：In light of what happened last week, please take care on the escalators.鉴于上周发生的事，请小心扶梯。In light of the recent shortages, there will be a ration in supplies for everyone.鉴于最近的短缺，每个人都会有定量供应。In light of his financial situation, he decided to cancel his holiday plans.考虑到他的经济状况，他决定取消度假计划。In light of the predicted weather, the school decided to postpone sports day.鉴于天气预报，学校决定推迟运动日。The police decided not to press charges in light of his good reputation and work with charitable causes.鉴于他的良好声誉和慈善事业，警方决定不起诉他。当在 light 前面加上其他修饰语时，意思就完全不一样了，例如：in the fading light of a summer's evening在夏天渐渐暗淡的暮色中解析：此时的 light 译为“光线，光亮”，是不可数名词。
