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Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

Part of the "American Dream" is to own a home. Many Americans borrow money when they buy a home. They use a mortgage loan, known simply as a mortgage, to help pay for the property. To get the money, the buyer signs an agreement with a bank or loan company. The borrower promises to pay back the money, plus interest, over a period of years.

The word "mortgage" comes from two Old French words. Mort means dead and gage means to promise or pledge. Combine the two terms and you get "death pledge." Perhaps this deadly sounding name is why many people are afraid to buy a house, and choose to rent one instead. Because of the word's French roots, we do not pronounce the letter "t" in mortgage.

The second half of the word, gage, is part of another useful word - engage. Engage has many meanings.

You can enter into battle with, or engage, your enemy. You can engage, or ask, someone to work for you. If you are engaged in a business, you've been taking part in it or doing it.

To engage also means to hold someone's attention. If you have an engaging speaking style, you can hold the attention of others -- or engage them -- for a long time.

An engagement can be a single promise to be some place at a given time. For example, "He has an engagement this evening and won't be able to make it." Or an engagement can be a serious promise to marry someone. You can say, "The couple got engaged two years ago, which makes it a really long engagement!"

But let's leave the happy thoughts of marriage and get back to death. The French term "mort" gives a deathly meaning to other English words – words like mortal, mortality, mortician and mortuary.

As a noun, mortal means a human being. But as an adjective, mortal means something or someone is subject to death. All mortal creatures will die. Mortal can also describe something or someone belonging to this world.

Many religious people believe that when we die, we simply leave our mortal life -- or life on this world -- for an afterlife. Something that does not die is immortal. Clergymen or other religious leaders often pray for a person's "immortal soul."

Mortal can also be used for something or someone with the ability to cause death. For example, someone who is your mortal enemy may want to kill you or they just may never give up in the fight against you. In battle, if you suffer a mortal wound, you are likely to die from it. Mortal combat means a fight to the death. These three are all common word combinations using the word "mortal."

On the lighter side is the word "mortified." When you are mortified, you feel so embarrassed or foolish that you want to die -- but not really. We often use mortified in situations that are not very serious.

Being a mortician, however, can be serious business. A mortician prepares dead people for burial. They also can help plan and organize funerals. The word mortician is a combination of mortuary, a place in which dead bodies are kept, and the suffix –ician, as in physician.

And that's Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English. I'm Anna Matteo.

重点解析

1.a period of 一段……时间
She should be hospitalized for a period of time.
她得住院治疗一个时期。

2.battle with 与…战斗
I battle with my self and the characters in my works.
我与我自己和我作品中的角色作斗争。

3.hold someone's attention 吸引某人的注意力
So by looking at your target while talking and away when listening you show that you're confident, while making her work to hold your attention.
所以一方面在说话的时候要看着对方的眼睛，表示你很自信，而另一方面在倾听的时候要远离她的眼睛，这样可以激发她去吸引你的注意力。

4.pray for 祈祷
We all pray for the victims of Japan.
我们都在为日本的受害者祈祷。

参考译文

现在是VOA学英语《词汇掌故》栏目。

“美国梦”的一部分就是有个房子。许多美国人贷款买房。他们利用抵押贷款帮助买房。为了借到这笔钱，买家与银行或贷款公司签署协议，借款人承诺未来几年时间里连本带息还款。

Mortgage这个词来自于两个古法语单词。Mort意思是死亡，而gage意思是保证或质押。两者结合起来就是“死亡质押。”可能这个吓人的名字是很多人不敢买房转而租房的原因。因为这个单词的法语词根，Mortgage中的T不发音。

这个单词的后一半gage是另一个实用单词engage的一部分。Engage有很多种含义。

你可以进入战斗和你的敌人交战，你可以雇佣某人为你工作。如果你涉足了某项生意，意思是你已经开始参与或从事这项生意。（engage部分含义: 1.与某某交战　2.雇佣 3. 涉足）

To engage还意味着吸引某人的注意力。如果你有着一种引人入胜的说话风格，你就能长时间吸引他人的注意力，或者说是engage them。

Engagement可以是特定时间到某个地方的简单承诺。例如，"He has an engagement this evening and won't be able to make it."（今晚他有个约会但是去不了。）或者engagement可以是与某人结婚的郑重承诺（婚约）。你可以说，这对情侣两年前订了婚，这婚约时间真长。”

但是让我们先不说婚姻的愉快想法，让我们回到death上来。法语单词mort让其它英语单词具备了死亡意义，像mortal（凡人），mortality（死亡率）,mortician（殡仪业者）和mortuary（停尸房）这些单词。

作为一个名词，mortal意思是凡人。但是作为形容词，mortal意思是终会死亡的人或物。所有凡间生物都会死亡。Mortal还能用于形容某人或某物归属于这个世界。

许多宗教人士认为，当我们死亡时，我们只是离开今生进入来世。immortal就是永世不朽的。牧师或其它宗教领袖常常祈祷某人灵魂不灭。

Mortal还能用于形容拥有致死能力的某物或某人。例如，你的mortal enemy（死敌）可能想要杀了你，或者只是不会放弃对抗你。在战斗中，如果你受了mortal wound（致命伤），你可能就会因此而死亡。Mortal combat意思就是殊死搏斗。这三者都是mortal的常见单词组合。

Mortified（羞愧）这个单词则在轻松一面。当你感觉羞愧时，你感觉那么尴尬或蠢到死，当然不是真的去死。我们经常在不是非常严重的情况中使用mortified这个单词。

然而作为殡仪业者是一件严肃的事情。殡仪业者为死者下葬。他们还能帮助计划并组织葬礼。Mortician这个单词是由mortuary(停尸房)和ician这个后缀组合而成。

以上就是本期VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目的全部内容。我是马里奥·瑞特。