Using symbols as keys in hash vs. strings

gistfile1.rb

require 'benchmark'

NUM_TIMES = 100000000
ARR = (5000..10000).to_a

hash1 = {}
strings = %w{"Lorem ipsum bla abra kadabra"}
strings.each do |str|
  hash1[str] = ARR.sample      
end

hash2 = {}
symbols = [:Lorem, :ipsum, :bla, :abra, :kadabra]
symbols.each do |symbol|
  hash2[symbol] = ARR.sample      
end

Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("Hash with Strings") do
    NUM_TIMES.times do
      hash1[strings.sample]    
    end
  end
  x.report("Hash with Symbols") do
    NUM_TIMES.times do
      hash2[symbols.sample]    
    end
  end
end

On my box I get an improvement of about 4 seconds when using symbols...

@kalmanh shouldn't the quotes on line 7 be removed?