It is a good time to be a rat. A warmer climate makes breeding(繁殖) easier. Busier cities provide more rubbish to eat. Bed bugs, too, are doing well, thanks to growing pesticide resistance(杀虫剂抗药性). Then there are the termites, which have been spreading northwards, chewing through ever more of states like New York and Ohio.(还有白蚁，它们一直在向北扩散，啃噬着纽约州和俄亥俄州等越来越多的地区。)
如今对老鼠来说可是好日子。气候变暖让它们更容易繁殖。更繁忙的城市提供了更多可吃的垃圾。臭虫也过得不错，这要归功于它们对杀虫剂的抗药性不断增强。还有白蚁，它们一直在向北扩散，啃噬着纽约州和俄亥俄州等越来越多的地区。
Demand for pest-control has been growing for decades. Over the past ten years global spending has nearly doubled(几乎翻了一番), reaching $29bn last year. The industry may be buzzing, but the world’s two biggest pest-control companies—Rollins and Rentokil—are not.(这个行业或许热火朝天，但全球两大害虫防治公司——Rollins和Rentokil——却并非如此。) Rollins’s share price has fallen by 44% this year. Rentokil is down by 23%.
几十年来，害虫防治需求一直在增长。过去十年间，全球支出几乎翻了一番，去年达到290亿美元。这个行业或许热火朝天，但全球两大害虫防治公司——Rollins和Rentokil——却并非如此。Rollins的股价今年下跌了44%，Rentokil下跌了23%。
The modern pest-control industry can trace its origins to(追溯到) these two giants. Orkin, Rollins’s flagship(旗舰的、王牌) service, was hatched(诞生、孵化) in 1901 when Otto Orkin, a 14-year-old immigrant from Latvia, began selling rat poison door-to-door in Pennsylvania. Rentokil was the name of the fluid that in the 1920s cleared Westminster Hall’s roof of the deathwatch beetles that kept falling on parliamentarians’ heads.(Rentokil原本是一种液体的名字，这种液体在20世纪20年代清除了威斯敏斯特大厅屋顶上不断掉到议员头上的报死窃蠹。) Since then the pair have dominated the industry. Today they account for(占（比例）) half the revenue of America’s 100 largest pest controllers.
现代害虫防治行业可以追溯到这两大巨头。Rollins的旗舰服务Orkin诞生于1901年，当时14岁的拉脱维亚移民奥托·奥林开始在宾夕法尼亚州挨家挨户推销老鼠药。Rentokil原本是一种液体的名字，这种液体在20世纪20年代清除了威斯敏斯特大厅屋顶上不断掉到议员头上的报死窃蠹。自那以后，这两家公司一直主导着该行业。如今，它们占美国100家最大害虫防治公司总收入的一半。