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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a surprise return to her alma mater on Monday, picking up an honorary degree from Yale University 36 years after earning her law degree from the Ivy League school.
Graduates celebrating commencement at Yale erupted in cheers as Clinton was introduced. In keeping with Yale tradition, the names of honorary degree recipients are a closely held secret, although word began trickling out Sunday of Clinton's participation.
Clinton did speak for about five minutes during the Yale Law School's separate commencement event held in the early afternoon. There, the 60-year-old Clinton reminisced about her days at Yale, saying the law school was an "encampment for protests and frivolity" when she arrived in the fall of 1969.
She met her future husband, Bill Clinton, at the school the following year, 22 years before he was elected the nation's 42nd president.
She expressed hope that every graduate would "use every creative gene you have" in order to work "on behalf of the public good."
Clinton drew laughs from the crowd when she jokingly apologized for taking Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh "away from the law school and putting him to work in Washington." Koh was nominated by President Barack Obama to be legal adviser to the State Department, and remains a possible nominee to the US Supreme Court.
In a nod to the rough job market, Clinton also urged the new law school graduates to apply for work in the Obama administration, at the State Department and with the United States Agency for International Development.
Koh said after the law school ceremony he hoped his students learned from Clinton "what is possible to achieve in one lifetime."
"Everyone who got the honorary degrees were in these seats not that long ago," Koh said. "And you know, what they know is, they could be a mother, a lawyer and US senator, Secretary of State, presidential candidate. There's no limit. That's what they should think. There's no limit to what they can do."
Clinton spoke to Yale graduates once before, in 1991 when she gave the traditional Class Day speech, which is the major address to graduating seniors held the day before commencement. This year's Class Day address was delivered Sunday by author Christopher Buckley, a 1975 Yale graduate.
Sculptor Richard Serra, Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John McPhee were among the others receiving honorary degrees from the university Monday.
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(Agencies)
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美國國務卿希拉里?羅德姆?克林頓于本周一突然造訪母校耶魯大學，并被授予耶魯大學榮譽學位。她于36年前畢業于這所“常青藤盟校”，并獲法學學位。
當希拉里?克林頓出現在耶魯大學畢業慶典上時，全場爆發出熱情的歡呼。盡管上周日就有消息傳出希拉里將出席畢業典禮，但按照耶魯大學的傳統，榮譽學位獲得者名單是嚴格保密的。
在當天下午早些時候單獨舉行的耶魯法學院畢業典禮上，希拉里?克林頓做了五分鐘的演講。現年60歲的希拉里?克林頓回憶了自己在耶魯大學的時光，稱她在1969年秋季入學時，法學院“是抗議和輕率舉動的營地”。
在入學的第二年，希拉里結識了未來的老公比爾?克林頓。22年之后他被選舉為美國第42任總統。
她表示，為了“代表公眾利益”工作，希望每位畢業生都可以“充分調動自身創造性”。
當希拉里?克林頓打趣地為將耶魯法學院院長哈羅德?H?柯“從法學院帶到華盛頓工作”而道歉時，全場笑聲一片。哈羅德?H?柯被美國總統奧巴馬任命為國務院法律顧問，并有可能被提名為美國最高法院法官。
希拉里?克林頓承認就業市場不景氣，但她敦促法學院的畢業生們申請進入政府、國務院以及美國國際開發署工作。
哈羅德?H?柯表示，他希望法學院畢業典禮后，學生們可以從希拉里?克林頓身上學到“人的一生可能有什么成就。”
他說：“榮譽學位的獲得者們不久前也在這所學校讀書，你知道，他們很清楚自己可以做一名母親、律師、參議員、國務卿以及總統候選人。他們的人生永無止境，他們應該這樣想，自己的能力永無止境。”
希拉里·克林頓曾于1991年對耶魯大學畢業生發表過一次傳統的畢業紀念日演講。畢業紀念日演講是畢業典禮前一天進行的一項重要演講。今年的畢業日演講是上周日由1975年畢業于耶魯大學的作家克里斯多弗?巴克爾發表的。
本周一被授予耶魯大學榮譽學位的人還包括雕塑家理查德?塞拉，諾貝爾經濟學家托馬斯?謝林，以及普利策獎得主約翰?麥克非。
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（英語點津 實習生許雅寧編輯） |
