لخّصلي

A) The year was 1999.One kilobyte (about 1,000 characters of storage) might cost as much as $100 USD.(E) As clocks turned and calendars flipped to the year 2000, there were very few problems.Certain cell phones in Japan deleted new text messages.One way they did this was by storing only the last two digits of the year.Some feared that banking systems would not work.Businesses upgraded their systems.People rewrote software.Some slot machines in Delaware broke.The night was December 31st, New Year's Eve.Computers powered our banks.But in the early days of computing, memory was very expensive.But as the years passed, the turn of the century neared.Payments might fail.Cash registers might break.(D) Another fear was that transportation systems would break.Taxi meters could stop working.Airline computers could fail.The Y2K problem was very worrisome.Governments passed laws.Some think over $300 billion dollars were spent fixing the Y2K problem.Air planes did not fall from the sky.Power grids did not shut down.We had avoided the worst.A few bugs and errors happened around the world.Some bus ticket machines in Australia stopped working.The world watched and waited.

A) The year was 1999. The night was December 31st, New Year's Eve. The world watched and waited. It was a night of celebration. But it was also a night of fear. People had grown to depend on computers. Computers powered our banks. They ran our companies. Would they all break at midnight? Some thought that they might. But why?

(B) The Year 2000 problem, or Y2K, had to do with computer storage. Computers store data and files in memory. Computer memory is cheap these days. Some companies will give you cloud storage for free. But in the early days of computing, memory was very expensive. One kilobyte (about 1,000 characters of storage) might cost as much as $100 USD.

(C) People had to think of ways to use less storage. One way they did this was by storing only the last two digits of the year. Instead of saving the date as 07/02/1979, they would save it as 07/02/79. This seemed like a good idea at first. But as the years passed, the turn of the century neared. Would our computers know that it was the year 2000 instead of the year 1900? How could they? What would happen if they got the dates wrong? Would the computers break? The Y2K problem worried many people. Some feared that banking systems would not work.
Payments might fail. Cash registers might break.
(D) Another fear was that transportation systems would break. Taxi meters could stop working. Airline computers could fail. Traffic lights could shut down. The Y2K problem was very worrisome. But people did not just wait for their systems to fail. They worked hard to prevent the bugs. Governments passed laws. Businesses upgraded their systems. People rewrote software. Some think over $300 billion dollars were spent fixing the Y2K problem. But were people really prepared when it happened?

(E) As clocks turned and calendars flipped to the year 2000, there were very few problems. Air planes did not fall from the sky. Power grids did not shut down. Bank accounts did not get wiped out. We had avoided the worst. A few bugs and errors happened around the world. Some bus ticket machines in Australia stopped working. Some slot machines in Delaware broke. Certain cell phones in Japan deleted new text messages. But most computers kept working just fine. Will things work out the same way for the Year 2038 problem (Y2K38)? Only time will tell.