These mortgages were given out to people that couldn't afford them and today you have what you call subprime mortgages--subprime paper They issued against this paper stuff called mortgage-backed security. They securitized them and these things are all floating around now.

我们发放这些抵押贷款给那些买不起房子的人,所以现在你们看到了一种你们叫做,次级抵押贷款的金融工具--次贷票据,他们把这种票据叫做,有抵押证券，他们把有抵押证券证券化,这些证券现在在市场上被多次交易，广为流通。

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

We couldn't have afforded to buy it now.

如果是现在，我们就买不起它了。

房价非常高 - SpeakingMax英语口语达人

The idea was that a lot of people can't afford a house -let's all get together and pool our money -in a Building Society or Saving and Loan Association -and then we'll loan out to some of us to buy the house.

当初的想法是,很多人都买不起房子,那我们就把钱凑在一起,放到一个建房互助协会或储贷协会里,然后向我们中那些要买房的人发放贷款

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选