05英语编者按：同为亚洲人，潘基文学习英语的经验可能对于中国人更有借鉴意义。你看潘基文的中学英文老师，也是让学生一个单词抄十遍，一个句子抄十遍，这够狠 的。我只记得，我上小学时，语文老师让我们一个词组抄五遍，罚抄的时候是十遍吧，于是就有同学把两只钢笔用橡皮筋捆在一起，一笔下去能下去能写出两行字。
母语学习尚且要经历这样一个过程，不要说外语了。
小潘同学表现很好，不光老老实实地抄写十遍，而且全部背出来。到了高中，遇到几个美国志愿者教师之后，更加是不得了，见什么背什么，只要是英文，像疯子一样（like a mad man），所以，你看，疯狂英语真正的创始人其实是潘基文同学。
学英语要不要背诵？潘基文同学给了大家一个很好的出榜样。既然亚洲人、中国人的血脉里就流淌着背诵的基因，那么为什么不用呢？我们既能背，又能 学习西方的办法，放到真实语境中去使用，如此以来，不是如虎添翼嘛。正如我接待过的一个美国教授感叹的，You Chinese are so smart! You all can speak two languages! 你们中国人太聪明了！你们人人都可以讲两种语言！当然了，我做的都是语言教育的工作，我的同事们当然都是双语，把这洋鬼子吓坏了。
说到最后，既然昨天的标题党里面提到了疯狂英语，我就多说一句，疯狂英语因丑闻而彻底疯狂了，但是那位狂人当年在校园里疯狂朗诵的英文材料是什 么，自始至终很少有人知道。是四六级历年考试真题。这些材料质量是上乘的，经过考委会、国内顶级专家的层层把关，千锤百炼。至于其方法，在突破心理障碍等 方面当然也有可取之处，不然也不会有过那么大的狂热。
图中这位大人物是美国总统肯尼迪，他正在接见来自世界各地的优秀青年代表，其中有一位亚洲人，年轻时疯狂背诵英语，现在是全球外交领域的风云人物，大家猜猜他是谁。
下面的英文是《中国日报》对他的报道片段：
What he is today is partly due to his excellent language skills. When he was a middle school student, his English teacher told students to write what they had learned on the day out 10 times. He faithfully followed and that way memorized whole English sentences. He was even able to make English educational materials for his classmates when he was a high school freshman.
A chance to improve his English further came thanks to the Chungju fertilizer factory. Some 20 American engineers and their family members were living nearby. “The wives of the American engineers took turns and taught people to speak English, and he from Chungju High School was the top. He memorized whatever was written in English like a madman.” (His senior in Chungju, Ahn Young-soo, now a Kyung Hee University professor.)
