Inspiration for science can be found almost anywhere, even in the most common things. Nathan Deng, 14, found his ideas while doing the dishes.

Nathan, a freshman student at San Marino High School in California, US, doesn’t like doing ________ any more than anybody else. But he said doing it made him wonder ________ hot water worked better than cold water when washing up after dinner, and what made soap a good cleaner. The experiments ________ him the top prize at the 2016 Broadcom MASTERS. Every year, the event ________ 30 middle school students from around the country to ________ their science projects.

At first, he thought that his ideas were naïve (天真的), but when he was presented with this ________ , it proved that young inventors can ________ deal with real world problems.

Inspired by reports of the Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2017, he ________ washing dishes to cleaning oil spills to find a cleaning method that’s both ________ and environmentally friendly. ________ he created his own equipment for measuring surface tension (表面张力) - a scientific term (术语) that ________ the tension of a layer (层) of liquid (液体). He ________ learning why soap and hot water are better for cleaning, and a way to remove oil from water.

When asked his ________ to success, he said, “you had better break down a science project into smaller, manageable steps to keep it ________. In that way, you will know what you are doing and begin to build on your knowledge ________.”