1.in black穿着黑色衣服；用黑色标明
in red穿着红色衣服；用红色标明
He was dressed all in black.
他一袭黑衣装束。
Everyone at the funeral was dressed in black.
参加葬礼的人都身着黑服。
She was dressed in black.
她穿着黑色衣服。
The girl in red is his little sister.
穿红衣的姑娘是他的妹妹。
The route has been marked in red.
路线用红色标明了。
2. in the black有盈利，有结余，有赚头
In the red 有亏损，有赤字，有欠债
Remington's operations in Japan are now in the black
雷明顿在日本的业务现在有盈利。
Until his finances are in the black I don't want to get married.
在他有银行存款之前，我不想和他结婚。
She hoped that her business would be in the black after getting a few more contracts.
她希望在多签了几份合同后，她的生意能有起色。
This country should make gambling legal so that its finances can finally be put in the black.
这个国家应该使赌博合法化，这样它的财政才能有盈余。
其实，若一个公司有净利润，那么在报表上的盈余是用黑色来标识的，因此 in the black 跟盈余有关。相应地，若一个公司亏本，那么在报表上的亏损是用红色表示的，因此 in the red 跟亏损有关，用来比喻负债亏损，可以译为“负债，亏空”，例如：
The theatre is ￡ 500,000 in the red
这座电影院亏空50万英镑。
We're at least$ 10000 in the red.
我们至少欠了一万美元。
We're back in the red because sales are way down this quarter.
我们又亏损了，因为这个季度的销售额下降了很多。
I have so many outstanding parking tickets that I'll be in the red if I pay them all off at once!
我有那么多未付的停车罚单，如果我一下子付清，我就负债累累了！
The enterprise which has been operating in the red has decided to swith to other production.
那家亏损企业决定转产。
The printing company was in the red. 这家印刷公司出现了赤字。（这家印刷公司出现了亏损。）
His company has been in the red for years.
他的公司连续亏损好几年了。