shed light

shed light on sth. ≈ throw light on sth., 其直接意义是“向……投入光明”，其转义为“阐明”“说明”“弄清”。例如：

1. The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and socialist critics, had been groping in the dark. 由于剩余价值的发现，这里就豁然开朗了，而先前无论资产阶级经济学家或者社会主义批评家所做的一切研究都只是在黑暗中摸索。（《马克思、恩格斯选集》第三卷，574页）

2. Then I started dialing everyone I could think of who knew Vince, hoping someone could shed light on how and why this could have happened. (Hillary, Living History) 我开始打电话给我能想起来的认识文斯的每一个人，希望有人能说明这一悲剧的经过和原因。

[试译]即使看来微不足道的历史遗物，也有可能很有意义地说明早期人类历史情况。