World Champion Says Rubik's Cube, Violin Work Well Together

World Champion Says Rubik's Cube¹, Violin Work Well Together

A University of Michigan student is one of the world's top "speedcubers," a person able to quickly solve a Rubik's Cube. He also is a talented violinist.

Stanley Chapel² says the two activities work well together. He adds that he has equal interest in both. But the 21-year-old says the violin has helped him succeed in speedcubing.

Chapel is studying violin performance at the university's school of music, theater and dance. He said that ideas he learned⁴ from music study such as repetition⁵ and "breaking things down into their smallest" elements helped him get better at cubing³.

Chapel grew up in Ann Arbor⁶, not far from where the University of Michigan is located. He solved his first 3x3 Rubik's Cube as a 14-year-old. Five weeks later, Chapel entered his first competition, solving the cube in an average of 22 seconds.

In 2017 in Paris, Chapel placed fifth in both the 4x4 blindfolded⁷ and 5x5 blindfolded groups at the World Cube Association⁹ World Championship.

At the 2019 world championship in Melbourne, Australia, he won both events.

Accounting¹⁰ for the time it takes for him to study the cube before placing the blindfold⁸ over his eyes, Chapel can solve one in around 17 seconds.

"The deeper I go into ... cubing technique, the more I find interest in pushing the boundaries of what's possible there," he said.

Chapel has some strong natural abilities. He is able to remember thousands of ways to solve a Rubik's Cube and perform one of Johann Sebastian Bach's violin pieces from memory.

But Chapel also spends many hours working on his skills. In addition, he does regular hand exercises that help him avoid the kinds of pains that come with the large amounts of time turning the cube's sides.

Chapel says years of playing the violin also has helped him have "very, very fine motor control already built up."

Later this year, Chapel plans to defend his world titles in South Korea.

Once he is done with school, though, Chapel is not sure how speedcubing fits into his future plans.

"I guess it's cool to know that nobody is able to do this," he said. "But, at the same time, giving myself a little bit of a reality check, it's like, ‘How much does that actually matter?'"

"It's not going to pay the bills when I'm older," Chapel said, laughing.

Words in This Story

Rubik's Cube –n. a kind of plastic cube with colored squares

violinist—n. a person who plays the violin (a kind of string instrument)

blindfold –v. to cover the eyes of (a person) with a piece of cloth

reality check – n. something which shows you that the real situation is different from what you believed or hoped

1 cube   

n.立方体，立方形；立方；vt.使自乘两次

参考例句：

• The cube of 3 is 27.3的立方是27。
• A cube has six sides.立方体有6个面。

2 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

3 cubing   

体积测量，收方，体积估价法

参考例句：

• The most common exponents are squaring and cubing a number. 最常见的指数是数的平方或立方。

4 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

5 repetition   

n.重复；反复

参考例句：

• The perfomance improved with each repetition.演出每演一场都有改进。
• This degree of repetition is not found in any known language.这种重复程度在任何已知语言中都不曾出现。

6 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

7 blindfolded   

v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗

参考例句：

• The hostages were tied up and blindfolded. 人质被捆绑起来并蒙上了眼睛。
• They were each blindfolded with big red handkerchiefs. 他们每个人的眼睛都被一块红色大手巾蒙住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 blindfold   

vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物

参考例句：

• They put a blindfold on a horse.他们给马蒙上遮眼布。
• I can do it blindfold.我闭着眼睛都能做。

9 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

10 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。