Reflection is what happens when light bounces off of a surface

Most objects do not emit light, but they reflect the light from other light sources.

Example: mirror

Absorption is what happens when light energy is transformed into heat energy in the material it is heating.

example: everything we see

Refraction is the reason that it looks as if a straw is broken when you leave it sticking up out of a glass of water.

Really the light is changing angles and speed as it leaves the medium of the water from the medium of the air.

Scattering light is what happens when light travels out in many different directions as it passes through a medium.

A good example of this is the color of the sky, the particles of dust and gas in the sky scatter shorter wavelengths more than other long wavelengths.