Read text II and answer questions 34 to 40
Meet the new neighbours
The empty house, in a middle-class corner of southern California, is two storeys high and boasts a three-car garage. Roses bloom around a kidney-shaped swimming pool, which is green with algae. Bill Bobbitt, a county inspector, dips a ladle into the water and brings up half a dozen wriggling larvae. Mosquitoes, and the West Nile virus that some of them carry, are thriving in California's plunging property market. 5
West Nile virus arrived in America in 1999 and made it to California three years later. Since then it is known to have infected 2,300 people in the state, of whom 76 have died… In theory, owners are supposed to keep their properties in decent shape whether they live there or not. California has even passed a bill fining banks and mortgage companies that seize properties and then allow pools to fester. But Mr. Bobbitt isn't waiting for the lawyers. He has treated the pool in Santa Ana with oil and synthetic growth hormones, which will keep the mosquitoes adolescent, preventing breeding. Then he tips in a few dozen mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis), which begin happily munching larvae. You can buy a lot of the fish for what a lawyer charges per hour, and some authorities, with commendable creativity, even provide them free to help 10 15
- control the pests. 20
(from The Economist, August 2d, 2008, p. 34)
The tone of the title is