然而，数十年的贫穷、环境恶化、暴力、动荡和独裁使得这个国家成了美洲最贫穷的国家。liuxuepaper.com
A mostly mountainous country with a tropical climate, Haiti's location, history and culture - epitomised by voodoo - once made it a potential tourist hot spot, but instability and violence, especially since the 1980s, have severely dented that prospect.
一个有着热带气候的多山国家，海地的地理位置、历史和伏都教的文化使得这个国家一度成为大有潜力的旅游胜地，但是动荡和暴力，尤其是20世纪80年代以后，严重削弱了这种前景。
海地强震恐造成数千人遇难
一名在地震中受伤的孩子在太子港接受治疗
海地发生200多年来最强烈地震，许多建筑物毁损，数千人恐已遇难，国际救援组织匆忙为这个加勒比海贫苦国家提供食品、药品和其它应急物资。
International aid groups scrambled to deliver food, medicine and other supplies to Haiti, where the strongest earthquake in more than two centuries has toppled buildings and raised fears that thousands are dead.
海地总统普雷瓦尔(Rene Preval)在接受《迈阿密先驱报》(Miami Herald)采访时形容此次灾难令人难以想像。他呼吁国际社会迅速行动起来。
Haitian President Rene Preval described the devastation as 'unimaginable' in an interview with the Miami Herald. He called for quick international action.
普雷瓦尔说，国家议会倒了、税收办公室倒了、学校和医院都倒了；有许多学校里面满是遇难者。
'Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed,' Mr. Preval told The Herald. 'There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.'
官员表示，美国船只及救灾队伍已在准备前往海地，英国、法国和中国等国家也承诺提供救援。联合国工作人员已经准备好了补给运输机，红十字国际委员会(International Red Cross)也向该地区调配了紧急救援物资。
U.S. ships and disaster-relief teams prepared to deploy to the Caribbean nation, as a range of governments, including the U.K., France and China pledged relief, officials said. United Nation's workers readied supply planes, and the International Red Cross mobilized emergency stocks in the region.
海地部分通讯和基础设施的毁损给此次七级地震的损失评估工作制造了障碍。然而，有关房屋倒塌、尸体被埋的骇人报导和图片令人越发担心此次地震带来了惨重破坏。
The partial collapse of communications and other infrastructure has hindered efforts to assess the damage of the magnitude-7 earthquake. But terrifying reports, including photos, of collapsed buildings and buried bodies have heightened concern that the destruction is extensive.
美国地质调查局(USGS)表示，此次地震震中位于海地首都太子港西南仅10英里。据报导，当地目击者看到了碎石下的尸体，并听到了求救声。
The quake struck just 10 miles southwest of the impoverished nation's teeming capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Witnesses there reported seeing dead bodies in the rubble and hearing cries for help.
联合国维和部队在海地的数千驻兵扩大了此次灾难的国际影响。联合国工作组驻海地总部坍塌，至少150名工作人员下落不明。联合国秘书长潘基文(Ban Ki-moon)告诉记者，目前为止，通过卫星电话联系维和部队总指挥、突尼斯外交官阿纳比(Hedi Annabi)的努力也告失败。法国外长库什内(Bernard Kouchner)向法国电台透露，阿纳比已经遇难。
The presence of thousands of United Nations' peacekeepers in Haiti has widened the international scope of the disaster. The U.N. mission's headquarters collapsed, and at least 150 workers remained missing. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters that efforts by satellite phone to reach the mission chief, Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi, have so far failed. France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told French radio that Mr. Annabi had been killed.
在海地驻扎了1千多名维和官兵的巴西证实有11名士兵罹难。中国国有媒体报导，八名中国维和队员遇难，另有多人失踪。约旦官方通讯社称，至少三名本国士兵丧生。
Brazil, which has more than 1,000 troops stationed in Haiti, confirmed 11 soldiers were killed. Eight Chinese peacekeepers died and others are missing, China's state-run media reported. Jordan's official news agency said at least three of its soldiers were killed.
海地纯英文介绍！
Haiti
(pronounced /liuxuepaper.com/);
French Haïti, pronounced: [a.iti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti), officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti ; Repiblik Ayiti) is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago. Ayiti (Land of high mountains) was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the mountainous western side of the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its capital is Port-au-Prince.
Haiti's regional, historical, and ethnolinguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. Despite having common cultural links with its Hispano-Caribbean neighbors, Haiti is the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas, and one of only two (along with Canada) that designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas départements, or collectivités, of France.liuxuepaper.com