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Materials that allow light to pass through them are called transparent materials. A prime example of a transparent object is this bubble. The light travels through it, and you can see right through to the other side. You can also see the light being refracted into different colors right around the outer edges of the bubble.
An opaque material is any object that absorbs light without reemission. This pair of polarized sunglasses is opaque, in that it absorbs light. Some of the best sunglasses you can buy are polarized sunglasses. They may not be the coolest looking things, but they really help your eyes. Polarization is simply the alignment of the transverse electric vectors that make up electromagnetic radiation. These particular glasses block horizontally transmitted light. If you were to break them in half and line up the lenses at right angle, no light would be able to get through at all.
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