People in Paris, France are growing concerned about a problem that has worried people for centuries: bedbugs, which are small, flat insects that live in beds and other places.
With more and more reports of bedbugs being found, the French government is worried about the problem. Millions of people will be traveling to Paris this summer for the 2024 Olympics. France doesn’t want the country to leave a bad impression by letting its visitors get bitten by bedbugs. No one likes bedbugs, but it’s important to remember that they can be upsetting and leave itchy bites behind, but they do not spread diseases. They’ve been around for thousands of years, and even found in old Egyptian tombs.
After World War II, people began using dangerous chemicals to kill them, which caused bedbugs and many other pests to become much less common. But in the past 20 or 30 years, bedbugs have become common again. For one thing, now many bedbugs aren’t affected by most of the chemicals that used to kill them. Some people think that the bedbugs that are left may be ones that the chemicals don’t work on. For another, people are traveling more these days. Bedbugs can hide in tiny spaces, including inside suitcases. When people bring their suitcases to new places, bedbugs can spread to new areas — or from those areas back home.
In France, bedbugs are a long-standing problem. Jean-Michel Berenger, a scientist who studies insects in Marseille, says, “Every late summer we see a big increase in bedbugs.” That’s mainly from people returning after traveling. And now, in addition to reports of bedbugs in hotels and apartments, there’re also reports of them being found in other places: on seats at movie theaters, on long-distance trains, on the Paris subway, and at the country’s busiest airport. French officials are making sure Paris’ apartments, along with hotels and other places where tourists stay, are safe and clean.
【小题1】Why does the French government start dealing with bedbugs?| A．They are spreading diseases. | B．They may affect a big event. |
| C．They bite more and more people. | D．They exist in France for too long. |
| A．The places where bedbugs often live. | B．The ways that bedbugs travel globally. |
| C．The reasons why bedbugs come back. | D．The fact that bedbugs beat chemicals. |
| A．Bedbugs can be easily got rid of. |
| B．The bedbug problem is getting worse and worse. |
| C．Bedbugs live mainly in hotels and apartments. |
| D．The number of bedbugs decreases sharply in late summer. |
| A．A local newspaper. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A sports magazine. | D．A research report. |
