It used to be that mortgages had what's called a balloon payment at the end.

曾有一段时间,抵押贷款中有期末大额偿还制度

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

Lane looked faintly interrupted. "Why what?" " Why did you think it was going to go over like a lead balloon?"

莱恩微弱的问，什么为什么“,为什么你认为它像一个领头气球“

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选

by Montgolfier in the late eighteenth century, and the balloon becomes a sort of symbol of perhaps liberty.

在十八世纪末发明的,而从此热气球也成了某种自由的象征

耶鲁公开课 - 1871年后的法国课程节选

And get rid of this balloon payment thing at the end -that was a dumb idea.

并取消了期末大额偿还的还款方式,期末大额偿还是很愚蠢的做法

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

And during the siege there were sixty-five balloon flights carrying two and a half million letters, weighing a grand total of 10,000 kilograms, so roughly about 20,000 pounds.

在巴黎被围期间,共放出了六十五个热气球,带走了多达两百五十万封信,合计重量约有一万公斤,也就是两万磅左右

耶鲁公开课 - 1871年后的法国课程节选