第一次读这篇文章，不认识得单词我会标粗
New years are often seen as new beginnings. But 25 years ago, many people were worried that the start of the new millennium would bring disaster.
Before January 1, 2000, newspapers and TV shows often talked about something that became known as the “Y2K bug” or the “millennium bug.”
People worried there would be big problems when clocks on computers went from December 31, 1999, to the year 2000.
This was because many computers used just two digits to record the year. So 1988 was just “88,” and 1999 was “99.”
But how would computers cope with “00” — might they think it was 1900 and stop working?
Some people thought this could mean that lights would go out across the world as computers failed. Perhaps software at banks, airports and hospitals would stop working too.
Governments spent hundreds of billions of dollars planning for possible problems and replacing old systems with new ones that used four-digit dates. The US alone spent $100 billion.
But other countries did almost nothing.
And when midnight came on December 31, planes didn’t fall out of the sky and the lights didn’t go out. Most of the problems were quite small.
But some were bigger, however.
In Ishikawa, Japan, some equipment failed at a nuclear facility — although backup systems made sure there was no danger.
And a group of over 150 pregnant women in the UK were given wrong information about their babies’ health because their hospitals’ computer systems got their birth dates wrong.
But some people said the worries — and all that money — had been for nothing.
However, experts said that it was only because of all those months of planning that there weren’t bigger problems. And they say that our reliance on technology makes us vulnerable to similar problems in the future.
cope
to handle or deal with something difficult
He’s having trouble coping with work stress.
facility
a building, machine, etc. provided for a particular purpose
We were very impressed with the hotel’s gym, spa and other facilities.
vulnerable
exposed to the possibility of being harmed, attacked, etc.
While feeding, the deer are vulnerable to predators.
millennium 千年