The BBC has defended its decision to name a panda among the 12 women in its Faces of 2011 as "a light-hearted addition" to the list.

英国广播公司（BBC）近日评出2011年度女性榜，按月挑出当月最受关注的女性。上榜的包括大熊猫甜甜，BBC辩护说这是为了给评选结果增添几分轻松和愉悦。

Sweetie, who is also known as Tian Tian, is one of a pair of pandas newly installed at Edinburgh Zoo.

甜甜是刚在爱丁堡动物园安家的一对熊猫中的一只。

The animal joins 11 other notable names on the BBC list including shot US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, singer Adele and Pauline Pearce — who was dubbed the heroine of Hackney after she was filmed standing up to rioters in north London.

这只熊猫和其他11位赫赫有名的女性一起入选BBC榜单，包括中弹的美国众议员加布丽埃勒·吉福兹、歌手阿黛尔和宝琳·皮尔斯，皮尔斯在伦敦北部骚乱时勇敢直面暴徒，视频传开后被冠以哈克尼女英雄的称号。

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Including Sweetie (Tian Tian) as one of the annual headline makers was a light-hearted addition to the list, and this isn't the first time it has featured a non-human. In 2009, Benson the Carp, a much-caught giant fish, was August's entry on the male list and last year Peppa the Pig was on the female list for April."

BBC的一位女发言人说：把甜甜列入年度女性榜单是为了增添几分轻松和愉悦，不过这并不是首次将非人类列入榜单。2009年曾被钓起多次的大鲤鱼本森曾是年度男性榜的八月之星，去年粉红猪小妹也成为年度女性榜的四月之星。

The bears were brought to Scotland from China in the hope that they will produce cubs.

这两只熊猫是从中国运到苏格兰的，人们希望它们能产下幼崽。

Sweetie's inclusion has caused a stir on micro-blogging site Twitter, with many users suggesting alternative names for "realwomenoftheyear".

甜甜的入选在推特上引起激辩，许多用户提名其他女性当选年度女性。

One user of the site, who tweets under the name campaigner, wrote: "I'm rather torn over pandagate. These things are never just black or white."

用户活动家发表推文说：我挺纠结‘英国熊猫门’的。这种事情从来不是非黑即白那么简单。

The BBC came under fire last month after its shortlist for the Sports Personality of the Year award did not include any women.

BBC上个月因其发布的年度体育人物奖的候选人中无一名女性入围而遭到炮轰。

MPs accused the BBC of "ignoring women's achievements" in 2011 by choosing an all-male shortlist.

该奖的候选人全为男性，国会议员谴责BBC此举是无视女性在2011年取得的成就。

词汇点津：

under fire 受到攻击