Question

there she met lieutenant colonel trotter, a stocky, dark - haired man whom nancy had worked with for many years. they put on their inner gloves and taped their cuffs. nancy put a pair of hearing protectors over her ears. she had started wearing them a while back, when people had begun to suspect that the roar of air in your suit might be loud enough to damage your hearing. they hauled on their space suits and sealed the ziploc zippers. they edged around each other as they fiddled with their suits. people in biohazard space suits tend to step around one another like wrestlers at the beginning of a match, watching the other every move, especially watching the hands to make sure they dont hold a sharp object. this cringing becomes instinctive.
which best states the central idea of this excerpt?
extreme precautions must be taken when dealing with potentially hazardous materials.

Explanation:

The excerpt describes Nancy and Lieutenant Colonel Trotter putting on biohazard space suits, taking precautions like wearing hearing protectors, sealing zippers, and being cautious around each other (to avoid sharp objects). These actions show extreme precautions for dealing with hazardous materials (implied by biohazard suits and "hot zone"). The given option matches this central idea.

Answer:

Extreme precautions must be taken when dealing with potentially hazardous materials.