Shaquille O‘Neal picked up a lot of awards in his years at LSU — All American， National Player of the Year， World Amateur Athlete of the Year， Southeastern Conference Athlete of the Year.

Today， O‘Neal waited to be handed another one： a bachelor of arts degree.

“This is a day I always waited for since 1989，” O‘Neal said.

LSU：路易斯安那州立大学 （Louisiana State University）。

bachelor of arts：文学士。

“It took a while， six or seven summers， but it was worth it.” School officials had asked O‘Neal， who towered above his classmates in his black robe and mortar board， to sit on the stage during this morning’s general ceremonial event. He did， but said he would sit with his fellow students during an afternoon ceremony when he will be handed his bachelor‘s degree.

“He probably worked harder and longer for this than for any of those other awards，” said Mike Mallet， O‘Neal’s academic adviser at LSU. “You can imagine what he had to do to complete all the requirements while playing in the NBA.”

mortar board：学位帽。

ceremonial：仪式，典礼。

academic adviser：（学生的）指导老师。