Part of the "American Dream" is to own a home. Many Americans borrow money when they buy a home. They use a mortgage loan（抵押贷款）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（质押）. 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. 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."
The French term "mort" gives a deathly meaning to other English words—words like mortal（凡人）, mortality（死亡率）, mortician （殡仪业者）and mortuary（停尸房）.
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（牧师）or other religious leaders often pray for a person's "immortal soul."
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