It is natural for most of us to consider the housefly a nuisance. It annoys us with its buzzing sounds and when it crawls on our food and our skin. For ages, that is what man has considered the fly – a complete and utter nuisance.

The word "utter" brings the similar meaning as ______.

However, it was not until the twentieth century that the innocent-looking housefly was discovered to be one of man’s worst enemies. It was proven that flies actually carry disease and germs that could prove fatal to millions of people.

The word "fatal" can be defined as ______.

When a fly is not flying, it continually preens itself, cleaning its eyes with the forelegs and dusting the legs by rubbing them together. It does this because most of the taste and smell receptors are found on the hair of the fly’s leg. Rubbing its forelegs also helps to break up the tasty food morsels that have gathered there.

The word "preens" can also mean ______.

When a fly is not flying, it continually preens itself, cleaning its eyes with the forelegs and dusting the legs by rubbing them together. It does this because most of the taste and smell receptors are found on the hair of the fly’s leg. Rubbing its forelegs also helps to break up the tasty food morsels that have gathered there.

The word "forelegs" means ______.

When a fly is not flying, it continually preens itself, cleaning its eyes with the forelegs and dusting the legs by rubbing them together. It does this because most of the taste and smell receptors are found on the hair of the fly’s leg. Rubbing its forelegs also helps to break up the tasty food morsels that have gathered there.

The word "morsels" means ______.

Those morsels can be highly dangerous as they may be contaminated with the bacteria of diseases such as typhoid fever, tuberculosis and dysentery. Flies collect such germs from the trash and sewage and if they happen to touch the food that we eat, that food will the get infected.

The word "sewage" means ______.

How does the fly carry these germs around? The body, its claws and feet are covered with bristling hairs. The tongue of the fly is coated with a sort of glue. This means it will pick up things that stick to its body, feet or tongue wherever it stops even for a moment. As a matter of fact, each foot on its three pairs of legs has claws and two hairy pads, so it can make a lot of ‘pick-ups’.

The word "bristling" in the phrase "bristling hair" has the similar meaning as ______.

The legs of the fly also secrete a liquid that helps it walk on walls. The body is so light that it can hang upside down from a ceiling just by the surface tension of the liquid secreted from its legs.

The word "secrete" has the similar meaning as ______.

Flies are among the oldest insects known. There is evidence of fossil remains of flies, proving that they have been around for millions of years old. Can we get rid of this pest altogether? The answer is yes. We can do this by preventing them from breeding. And to do this, conditions have to be made sanitary all over the world! Protecting food from flies is an important task in every kitchen.

The word "sanitary" has the similar meaning as ______.