Insects rarely worry me. Mosquitoes annoy me, but only because I don’t like the unavoidable itching (痒) that follows. I don’t get spooked by spiders or terrified by white ants. Bedbugs (臭虫), though, are my big exception. I’ve never seen one, but I religiously check for them when I travel. And I’ve woken up from nightmares of them moving across my bed and up my legs.

While they aren’t disease carriers, a large number of bedbugs can eat away at your mental health as well as your pocketbook. Ultrasonic (超声波的) devices marketed to drive bedbugs away don’t have any effect. Bug bombs don’t work. Bedbugs are developing resistance to a common insecticide that once killed them. Even if the chemicals work, they can be dangerous for the humans exposed to them. High heat can be effective, but that’s not always a practical solution.

Some studies have indicated that cold might kill bedbugs after as little as one hour of exposure. But new research published in Journal of Economic Entomology finds that’s not the case. Cold can kill a bedbug, but only after days.

Joelle F. Olson and his colleagues froze bedbugs at various stages of life, fed and unfed, for varying lengths of time. The bad news was that the bugs didn’t die nearly as quickly as other studies had found. “In our study, bedbugs survived lower temperatures, with eggs surviving in short-term exposure to temperatures as low as -25℃,” the researchers write. But the bugs are not freeze-tolerant, the scientists found, and they can be killed—no matter what their stage of life or feeding status is. All it takes is 80 hours in temperatures of -16℃.

The finding confirms a standard practice for museum collections and food products: potentially infested (被寄生的) items are frozen to kill any hidden insect pests. And it provides a completely safe method of control for people, at least for items they can fit into the freezer.

【小题1】What’s the meaning of the underlined word “spooked” ?

A．Frightened.	B．Interested.
C．Surprised.	D．Impressed.

【小题2】What does the new research find?

A．Bedbug eggs are more tolerant of cold.

B．Low temperature is the key to killing bedbugs.

C．The level of cold bedbugs stand varies with age.

D．Bedbugs survive cold, but not for too many days.

【小题3】In which aspect will Joelle’s finding make its contribution?

A．Improve the efficiency of freezers.

B．Overcome psychological fears of bugs.

C．Help people protect food from insect pests.

D．Find a standard practice for museum collections.