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.

BBC将熊猫甜甜列入了由12名女性组成的2011年度人物候选名单，并称这是“令人愉快的补充”。此消息在英国引起各种争议，对此BBC做出了解释。

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

甜甜是不久前刚刚在爱丁堡动物园安家的那对中国大熊猫的一员。

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位女性一起登上了BBC的候选榜单，包括遭遇枪击的美国国会女议员布里埃尔·吉福兹，歌手阿黛尔，以及保琳·皮尔斯——她在伦敦北部对抗暴徒的勇敢行为被镜头记录下来，人们称她为哈克尼的女英雄。

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."

一位BBC的女发言人说：“熊猫甜甜来到英国是曾登上各大新闻头条，把甜甜补充到这份年度新闻人物的名单上是轻松愉快的决定，而且这也不是次有非人类被提名。2009年，一条被捕获的大鲤鱼本森被提名为当年8月的男性人物，而去年小猪皮帕则成为了4月的封面女郎。”

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远渡重洋来到苏格兰，人们期望它们能够繁衍后代。

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

甜甜获得提名在社交网站Twitter上引起了轩然大波，话题#真正的年度女性#中很多人建议不如换个名字吧。

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."

一位署名“从军者”的用户发微薄写道：“我被#熊猫门#雷到了。这种事情绝不仅仅是黑或白那么简单。”

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

上个月BBC也饱受责难，它公布的年度体育人物名单中竟然没有一位女性。

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

对于选择清一色的男性上榜，议员们指责BBC“忽视了”2011年“女性取得的成就”。