  Using a sample of 2408 time-resolved spectra for 91 BATSE gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs) presented by Preece et al., we show that the relation between the
isotropic-equivalent luminosity (L_iso) and the spectral peak energy (E_p) in
the cosmological rest frame, L_iso \propto E_p^2, not only holds within these
bursts, but also holds among these GRBs, assuming that the burst rate as a
function of redshift is proportional to the star formation rate. The possible
implications of this relation for the emission models of GRBs are discussed. We
suggest that both the kinetic-energy-dominated internal shock model and the
magnetic-dissipation-dominated external shock model can well interpret this
relation. We constrain the parameters for these two models, and find that they
are in a good agreement with the parameters from the fittings to the afterglow
data (abridged).
