What is a mortgage?

什么是抵押贷款
You lend somebody money.

就是你把钱借给某人
They put up collateral.

他们提供抵押品
They don't pay you take the house or you take the guys life,

若他们还不了钱就得以房子或者生命抵债
he's a slave or something, but it's the same thing.

成为奴隶什么的但性质一样
You borrow money and the guy promises you can confiscate

你借出钱同时他们承诺
something if he doesn't pay.

当他们无法偿还时你可以没收其抵押品
Four thousand years and we screwed it up.

它有四千的年历史但我们却搞出了问题
How could that be?

这是怎么回事
And why should a screw up in the mortgage market have such a

而且为什么信贷市场的危机会对
big effect on the rest of the economy?

世界经济整体产生如此大影响
Were sub-prime mortgages a terrible idea?

难道是因为次级房贷是个糟糕的主意