Speedcubing – exercise 1
The World Speedcubing Championships 2007
The Rubik’s Cube is one of various 3-D mechanical puzzles invented by Ernő Rubik, the Hungarian inventor, sculptor and professor of architecture.
Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle in 1980. It is said to be the world’s best-selling toy, with over 300,000,000 Rubik’s Cubes being sold worldwide by 2005. The cube is said to have 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible configurations.
In a classic Rubik’s Cube, each of the six faces is covered by 9 stickers, among six solid colours (traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow). A pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be a solid colour.
It is said that a Rubik Cube sparked a divorce in 1981, when a German woman complained that her husband spent more time with his cube than with her. We hope that doing these listening exercises will not cause you problems in your life!
Limber up with this multiple choice exercise first! Click here for the video link!
Click here for exercise 2!
1. [Multiple choice]
The inventor of the Rubik’s cube came from Budapest.
(Ernő Rubik was born in Budapest in 1944.)
Answers for Quiz [1].
- 1. True (correct)
- 2. False
2. [Multiple choice]
The very first Rubik’s Cube World Championships were held in Hungary.
Answers for Quiz [2].
- 1. True (correct)
- 2. False
3. [Multiple choice]
Who held the world record time for solving the Rubik’s Cube before the end of the 2007 contest?
(Thibault Jaquinot – with a time of 9.86 seconds!
UK champion Dan Harris held the UK record at the time of this video.
)
Answers for Quiz [3].
- 1. Dan Harris
- 2. Milan Baticz
- 3. Thibault Jaquinot (correct)
4. [Multiple choice]
Who hoped that with a bit of luck he could beat 6, 7 or 8 seconds?
Answers for Quiz [4].
- 1. The Pole Łukasz Ciałoń.
- 2. Thibault Jaquinot, from France. (correct)
- 3. The Hungarian contestant Milan Baticz.
5. [Multiple choice]
Who already held 11 different world records & 1 European record?
(Łukasz Ciałoń, from Poland, won the 2×2 category at the 2007 World Championships.)
Answers for Quiz [5].
- 1. Milan Baticz
- 2. Mátyás Kuti (correct)
- 3. Łukasz Ciałoń
6. [Multiple choice]
Who was 17 at the time?
Answers for Quiz [6].
- 1. Mátyás Kuti
- 2. Milan Baticz (correct)
- 3. Dan Harris
7. [Multiple choice]
Who was 14 at the World 2007 Speedcubing Championships?
(The Swede Annica Molin, who was not featured in this video, but did compete, was 23 at the time.)
Answers for Quiz [7].
- 1. Milan Baticz, from Hungary.
- 2. Annica Molin, from Sweden.
- 3. Mátyás Kuti, from Hungary. (correct)
8. [Multiple choice]
Who was described as a prodigy?
(A prodigy is a person, especially a young one, with exceptional abilities. Mátyás Kuti was 14 at the time, and had already won many competitions. That makes him a prodigy!)
Answers for Quiz [8].
- 1. Andrew Kang
- 2. Mátyás Kuti (correct)
- 3. Jasmine Lee
- 4. Dan Harris
- 5. Thibault Jaquinot
9. [Multiple choice]
Competitors are not allowed to take their own cubes to contests.
Answers for Quiz [9].
- 1. True
- 2. False (correct)
10. [Multiple choice]
It makes no difference whether the cubes are oiled or not in readiness for the Games.
(It is crucial that cubes are well-oiled.)
Answers for Quiz [10].
- 1. True
- 2. False (correct)
11. [Multiple choice]
Who scrambles the cubes?
Answers for Quiz [11].
- 1. The competitors.
- 2. Anyone.
- 3. The officials. (correct)
12. [Multiple choice]
How many seconds do contestants have to inspect the cubes before they start?
Answers for Quiz [12].
- 1. 5
- 2. 10
- 3. 12
- 4. 15 (correct)
- 5. 20
- 6. 50
13. [Multiple choice]
Their final scores are based on the average of their times for ….. solves.
Answers for Quiz [13].
- 1. 5 (correct)
- 2. 6
- 3. 8
14. [Multiple choice]
How many of the 300 contestants went through to the final?
Answers for Quiz [14].
- 1. 6
- 2. 10
- 3. 15
- 4. 16 (correct)
- 5. 20
- 6. 30
- 7. 60
15. [Multiple choice]
Whose mother would be disappointed?
Answers for Quiz [15].
- 1. Andrew Kang’s.
- 2. Jasmine Lee’s. (correct)
- 3. Dan Harris’s.
16. [Multiple choice]
Whose parents were shown watching the contest?
Answers for Quiz [16].
- 1. Jasmine Lee’s.
- 2. Andrew Kang’s.
- 3. Milan Baticz’s. (correct)
17. [Multiple choice]
Who won the final of the main event of the tournament, the classic 3 x 3?
(You had to deduce the name of the winner, as you were only given the name of the runner-up.
runner-up – noun – (plural runners-up) – a competitor (or competitors) taking second place
)
Answers for Quiz [17].
- 1. Dan Harris.
- 2. Yu Nakajima. (correct)
- 3. Thibault Jaquinot, the Frenchman.
- 4. Andrew Kang.
18. [Multiple choice]
Who took second prize?
Answers for Quiz [18].
- 1. Yu Nakajima, the Japanese.
- 2. The Australian, Jasmine Lee.
- 3. The US contender, Andrew Kang. (correct)
- 4. The Englishman Dan Harris.
19. [Multiple choice]
Who was mentioned as being disappointed when the winner of the Championship was announced?
(Andrew Kang was beaten by the Japanese player Yu Nakajima ‘who just edged it’. Mitsuki Gunji finished third.
to edge it – informal – to defeat by a very small margin
)
Answers for Quiz [19].
- 1. Mitsuki Gunji, the Japanese contestant.
- 2. Andrew Kang. (correct)
- 3. Milan Baticz.
20. [Multiple choice]
What was the winner’s average score in these finals?
Answers for Quiz [20].
- 1. 12.44 seconds.
- 2. 12.45 seconds.
- 3. 12.46 seconds. (correct)
- 4. 12.47 seconds.
- 5. 12.48 seconds.
- 6. 12.49 seconds.