CNN News: 宪改公投遭遇惨败伦齐辞职

Hi. I`m Carl Azuz. Thanks for taking ten minutes out of your day this December 5th for CNN STUDENT NEWS.

大家好，我是卡尔·阿祖兹。欢迎大家收看今天的十分钟CNN学生新闻。

Big vote yesterday of the European country of Italy. Significant changes have been proposed to the country`s constitution which dates back to 1948, and voters were given the choice to accept or reject them. Italy`s parliament has two chambers, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Both houses have to approve a bill before it can become law.

昨天意大利宪法改革公投投票结束。关于意大利宪法改革可以追溯到1948年，投票者可以选择接受或拒绝宪法改革。意大利议会设有两院，参议院和众议院。在宪法改革生效之前，两院必须通过法案。

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wants to reduce the number of people serving in the Senate. This would weaken that chamber. And Prime Minister Renzi says it would make it easier and faster to pass laws.

意大利总理马泰奥·伦齐希望减少参议院任职人数。这将削弱参议院。马泰奥·伦齐表示,它将更容易更迅速使其通过法律。

But critics say this could get rid of an important check on the government`s power and give too much power to the prime minister instead.

但是批评人士表示，这将削弱对政府的监督，同时赋予总理过多的权利。

What further raised the stakes in this referendum, this vote is that Mr. Renzi says he`ll step down as prime minister if Italians don`t vote to reduce the size of the Senate.

这进一步提高了对公投的关注度，投票的关键是如果意大利投票不裁减参议院规模，马泰奥·伦齐是否会卸任意大利总理一职。