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Sound the bagpipes, raise a wee dram of whisky, or perform any other cliché you can think of: Scotland has finally said “NO” to independence. All those months of campaigning, days’ worth of televised debate, and thousands of newspaper articles boiled down to just a few hours of voting on Thursday. Of the 4.3million Scots registered to vote, 84% turned out to decide whether Scotland should become independent from the UK. Such a high turnout was no surprise given how incredibly close the fight for independence became. The day before polling stations opened, surveys put the lead for the NO campaign (with the slogan “Better Together”) at just 2 percentage points, with 51% supporting a united Scotland versus 49% demanding independence. 吹响风笛，高举威士忌，或者用其他你能想到的陈腔滥调来庆祝吧：苏格兰公投否决独立！数月来各种运动游行，一天到晚的电视辩论，还有成千上百的资讯社论，最终都凝聚为周四那短短几小时的投票。四百三十万苏格兰选民中，84%都投下了神圣的一票。鉴于此前独统两派缠斗日益激化，如此之高的投票率也并不令人吃惊。投票站开启的前一天，有调查显示，反对和支持独立的民众比例分别是51%和49%，反对独立的阵营（他们的口号是“在一起更好（Better Together）”）仅以2%的优势领先。 Thankfully for the “Better Together” campaigners - who range from Prime Minister David Cameron to Harry Potter author JK Rowling - their lead not only held, but also gained pace. Perhaps a few YES voters got cold feet at the last minute; the NO campaign claimed to have more factual evidence behind it, and accused YES leaders of relying on rhetoric and emotion. With all votes cast and counted by 6.08am on Friday 19th September, it was officially announced that 55% of Scots had voted to remain in the UK. | 
