西班牙议会否决加泰罗尼亚举行独立公投的法案

 　　MADRID, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Congress on Tuesday voted against a proposal to allow an independence referendum in the Catalan region in the north-east of the country.

　　The proposal, which had been presented by the Catalan Regional Parliament, was rejected by an overwhelming majority of 299 to 47 with one abstention.

　　Addressing Congress during the debate prior to the vote, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy strongly criticized the idea of Catalan independence, saying that he "could not imagine Spain without Catalonia," and the move"was a project for fraction and division."

　　"It needs more than ballot¹ boxes for an action to be democratic," he added.

　　Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the leader of the Socialist² (PSOE) Party said Spanish law had to be respected.

　　"Nobody can call as referendum in one part of the country over something which affects us all," said Rubalcaba.

　　Catalan President, Artur Mas, who leads the Catalan nationalist party Convergencia I Unio (Convergence and Union), had previously³ advised he would not attend Congress on Tuesday as he had expected a "No" vote.

　　Mas announced in December 2013 that the independence referendum would take place on November 9 this year and that the questions to be asked on the ballot paper had already been decided⁴.

　　Mas insisted last Sunday the referendum would go ahead irrespective of the result of Tuesday's vote.

　　"If they say no, they will say no to a law, but they can't block the will of the Catalan people," he said.

1 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

2 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。