annenberg media ♪ for information about this and other annenberg media programs call 1-800-learner and visit us at www.learner.org. annenberg media ♪

captioning made possible by southern california consortium ♪ one of the most extraordinary moments in human history occurred when astronauts first set foot on the moon. and yet, on the surface of our own planet, there lie tracts of territory

where no one has ever walked. only a very small group of people has even glimpsed this place first-hand. it's not too surprising that humans haven't actually walked on the floor of the deep ocean considering the extreme conditions that exist in that environment. on the earth's surface, is sunlight and warmth, but the deep sea floor is in absolute darkness with temperatures near freezing. a person standing on the ocean floor would be exposed to the tremendous weight of the overlying water. this column of water, which is over 3 1/2 kilometers high, exerts a pressure hundreds of times greater than atmospheric pressure on earth. a person my size would be exposed to a total force of about 9 million kilograms. that's about 100 times the weight of this ship.

that force would instantly crush my body to the size of a soccer ball. though scientists don't walk on the floor of the ocean doesn't mean we know nothing about it. using research submersibles which are specially designed to withstand the tremendous pressures, scientists have examined portions of the ocean floor in person. by peering though windows 1/2 meter in thickness. each window is made of a single flawless quartz crystal. it's mounted in a titanium metal pressure hull 1 meter thick. most of what we know about this alien environment has not been learned by personal observation. it's been obtained by using indirect techniques. the high technology of sea floor exploration has produced a wide variety of remote sampling tools and marine robots that act as the eyes and the ears and the hands of the scientists who study the deep ocean floor. using these remote techniques has produced a vast wealth of information. the more we learn about it,

the more intriguing it seems. the deep sea floor has played a prominent role in the evolution of our planet. it remains the most tectonically vigorous region on earth. we call our world planet earth. a more apt name might be planet ocean, since the oceans cover more than 70% of the globe's surface. this vast amount of water probably grew from the condensation of volcanic steam and from the melting of ice in comets which struck the primeval earth. from the beginning, the oceans have contained more than just water. carbon dioxide, chlorine, and sulfur dioxide, which are volcanic gases, dissolve easily in water. sodium, magnesium, and many other elements weathered from rocks on land continuously pour into the sea from the mouths of rivers. these chemicals make oceans salty. if the surface of earth were completely level,

an ocean would cover the entire planet, but the surface is made up of two contrasting materials. light, granitic rock floats high, forming the world's continents. the heavier basaltic rock tends to sink, forming the world's deep ocean basins. the oceans average between 3 and 4 kilometers deep. however, compared to the total diameter of earth, the oceans are but a patchy film of liquid covering the surface. scientists have identified several different regions of the sea floor. most of us have had first-hand experience with the shallowest and most accessible area-- the continental shelf. when we wade in the ocean, we're walking at the landward edge of a continental shelf. shelves cover 1/6 of earth's surface, sloping gently down from shorelines at an angle of about 1/10 of a degree. worldwide, shelves average 70 kilometers in width,

but in some regions, notably the pacific coast, shelves can be as narrow as 2 kilometers. if we started at the beach and went towards the deep ocean, we'd see first the continental shelf, then a distinct break in slope, and it's suddenly steep. that's the geologic edge of the continent, so it's shallow at about 200 meters depth. though it varies from place to place. suddenly it's steep. then it drops all the way to 4 or 6 kilometers to the deep ocean, so that's a very tall scarp from the edge of the continental shelf to the deep ocean. that's called the continental slope. when you get to the base of the slope, there's a huge, long, shallow slope where all the debris that's coming off the continent is deposited. it's a gradual slope that's called the continental rise. if you were coming towards the continent,

you'd slowly rise up it. it's all the debris from the rivers and off of the slope by a lot of different processes, end up in a pile slowly getting thinner as you go away from the base of the slope. in many places, the continental shelves and slopes are furrowed by deep v-shaped valleys known as submarine canyons. where the shelf is wide, as on the atlantic coast of the united states, these canyons begin far out from shore near the outer edge of the shelf. on the narrow continental shelves of the pacific coast, the heads of some canyons lie close to the surf zone. they've been a mystery for a long time. why they're there, how they're cut so deep. they're also very interesting. a lot of the sediment that comes off the continent and onto the ocean floor goes down those canyons and debouches onto the ocean floor-- makes fans of sediment at the foot of the slope.

beyond the continental rise lies what is quite literally the flattest region on earth. the abyssal plain. this landscape is formed as layer upon layer of sediment settles on the ocean floor. this material, known as pelagic sediment, consists of organic as well as inorganic matter. pelagic sedimentation is not restricted to the abyssal plain, but occurs throughout the oceans. the pelagic sediments are made of the debris that falls out of the water column. it's like a snowfall that falls on top of the topography, and they're made of the microscopic shells of organisms in the plankton, and also all the clay and dust in the air that falls down or is stirred up in the water. these sediments come down gently and drape over the topography. it saves all the mountains and hills structure,

even though it softens them up like a snowfall would. farther out along the abyssal plain, the sea floor bedrock becomes shallower, and the sedimentary cover becomes thinner, exposing lava hills, which are actually the tops of volcanoes. thousands of these volcanoes are scattered across the deep ocean floor. the larger ones are called sea mounts. in fact, underneath the veneer of sedimentary deposits, the entire surface of the sea floor is volcanic in origin, although few signs of recent eruptions are visible except at mid-ocean ridges ridges are broad, mountainous features rising some 2 kilometers high above the surrounding sea floor and stretching up to 1,500 kilometers wide. the ridges are connected in a single system, snaking across the undersea landscape from one ocean to another--

winding around the globe like the seam on a baseball. unlike the crest of a continental mountain belt, which usually consists of a series of tall peaks, the crest of a mid-ocean ridge is occupied by a cliff-rimmed valley extending along much of its length. the walls and floor of this valley are split by numerous fissures. it's in this fissured valley that the most frequent volcanic action occurs on the ocean floor in the form of undersea lava flows. this volcanic activity is the key to a phenomenon that long-puzzled geologists. there was a great disparity between the age of the continental crust and that of the oceanic crust. the rock underlying the continents is as much as 4 billion years old, and yet the oldest rock found beneath the ocean dates back only about 200 million years. the fact that there's no ocean crust on earth older than 200 million years

raises an intriguing question. does this mean oceans didn't exist on earth during the preceding 4.4 billion years of earth history? clearly, this can't be true. fossils of organisms that lived in the sea are found in rocks older than 200 million years on every continent on earth. fossils of multicellular marine animals range in age back at least 670 million years, and evidence of colonial marine algae, called stromatolites, have been found in the oldest sedimentary rocks on earth. discovered in northwest australia, these sedimentary rocks and the stramatolites they contain are definitely of marine origin and range in age between 2.8 and 3.5 billion years. if then oceans did exist throughout most of earth history, what's happened to all of the old ocean crust? analysis of cores taken from submarine rock reveals that the sea bed becomes steadily older with increasing distance from the mid-ocean ridges.

this research indicates that the sea floor originates and grows outward from the ridges. geologists call this process sea-floor spreading. the fissures atop a mid-ocean ridge are conduits through which fresh lava emerges. the lava hardens, but soon the crust is pulled open forming new fissures and allowing more lava to emerge. repeated continuously over millions of years, this process forms new sea floor. as the sea floor is pulled away from the ridge, it becomes cooler and denser. eventually, it becomes so cold and dense, it can sink back into the mantle against the edge of a nearby continent or smaller ocean basin. this sinking of oceanic crust, called subduction, explains the absence of very ancient sea floor. quite simply, it disappears back into the earth.

subduction begins at enormous underwater trenches, some of them several times deeper than the grand canyon. because of the great depth, marine geologists have had to come up with a host of ingenious ways of exploring the deep sea floor. the primary tool used by earth scientists to study the ocean floor is a research vessel like this, outfitted with a variety of oceanographic sampling instruments. mounted on the stern of the vessel is this a-frame. it's a hydraulically movable rack used to lift and deploy the instruments. the oceanographic sampling instruments are tethered to the vessel with steel cable wound around a revolving drum. scientists can take a bite of sediment from the ocean bottom using an instrument like this camel grab. it takes sediment samples quickly, but only of the upper centimeters of ocean bottom.

oftentimes, an undisturbed sample of the deeper layers is required to examine variations in the accumulated sediment on the ocean bottom with time. this box corer takes an entire column of sediment which later can be split open and the individual layers analyzed like pages in a book. but marine geologists need more than physical samples to understand the sea floor. it's like trying to understand an entire city by only visiting certain buildings and street corners. by examining the shape and global distribution of submarine land forms and determining their rock composition, geologists have been able to link the processes which create these land forms with the formation of the ocean crust itself. most topographic mapping techniques used in sea floor exploration are based on the principle of sound waves bounced off the sea bottom-- a technique called echo sounding. first developed for the military detection of enemy submarines in the 1920s, echo sounding devices emit a pulse of sound

toward the ocean bottom, recording the time it takes for that sound to bounce off the bottom and back to the device. by converting echo time into water depth, echo sounding devices draw a 2-dimensional profile of the ocean floor beneath the research vessel. in recent years, however, marine geologist have employed more sophisticated acoustical techniques to map the topography of the sea floor. these robotically controlled imaging devices can map and area of the ocean floor tens of kilometers wide in a single pass. this 3-dimensional view of the ocean bottom can be clearer, more detailed, and even more valuable than the ocean floor view from the window of a research submersible. one such imaging device is currently being used to map the territorial waters of the united states. in 1983, the federal government expanded this region to include all terrain within 200 miles of american shores.

the u.s. geological survey was assigned the task of mapping this enormous new acquisition for possible future development of resources. at the core of this effort is a sophisticated echo sounding technology called "gloria." gloria enables broad areas of the sea floor on either side of the ship to quickly be scanned, unlike traditional sonar, which only provides a profile of the sea floor directly beneath the ship. gloria itself is towed behind the ship, trailing 200 meters away, some 50 meters beneath the surface. gloria changed our impression of the sea floor by at one time letting us view the entire sea floor rather than viewing small patches beneath the ship, many, many tracks going every which way and trying to interpolate between those tracks.

with gloria, we can see the entire surface-- where the sea mounts are, where the channels are, where the meanders are, where the canyons are, the gullies. we know the locations of all these features down to very small scale features. in that respect, gloria was a complete revelation. to accurately map an area of ocean floor using gloria technology requires very precise navigation. the longitudes and latitudes of specific sites are determined with the assistance of earth-orbiting satellites in communication with the research vessel. this technique is termed g.p.s.-- the global positioning system. navigation is the most important data we collect. if we can't locate the image or a bit of it exactly where it is on the sea floor, then we haven't done our job. someone must be able to return, after identifying something on the gloria mosaic, return to that latitude and longitude

and find that image on the sea floor, so we use global positioning. we use g.p.s. navigation. it's what we pay more attention to onboard the ship and after the cruise than anything else. it's the cornerstone for everything we do. at this stage, however, there's still no image to look at. the gloria data exists only as digitized bits of information in a computer, which is processed and enhanced to create images showing the topography of the sea floor. ultimately, other valuable information will come from gloria work. depths may be accurately determined for the locations far away from the research vessel. and using characteristics of reflected seismic energy, it may even be possible to determine the type of material making up the sea bed. the individual images are pieced together to create a large mosaic view of the sea floor.

on an overlay placed across the mosaic, the geologists trace the important features which will assist them in making a final map. this overlay will also help in describing the geology of this newly explored undersea terrain. the atlas compiled from gloria's maps and images is expected to have many applications. the people interested in gloria data vary from oil company geologists that want to know where features are, the geometry of certain features, which we can provide. academic scientists want to know possibly an area they're interested in. if we imaged that area, they know where to focus all their energy and money to look at the process they're interested in. the military i'm certain is interested in the gloria data. it's like any base map. it's a reconnaissance of the sea floor. it provides the basis for beginning to understand everything that's there.

some researchers are trying to understand where valuable geological resources are located on the sea floor. in a world of diminishing raw materials, the hope of exploiting the oceans for their resources has persisted for decades. at present, the only geologic resources on the deep sea floor, nodules of valuable manganese ore are scattered by the millions. manganese nodules are not composed purely of manganese. only about 20% of a nodule contains manganese. another 15% or so may contain iron

with traces of cobalt, nickel, and other metals, but most of the nodules are made up of calcium carbonate and volcanic fragments. where the manganese comes from has been a mystery problem for science. two possibilities are that the manganese is extracted from waters washing off the continents, or from exhalations through undersea hot springs on the mid-ocean ridges. the mid-ocean ridge origin is favored, but how the manganese is transferred through the water to very slowly accumulate as these nodules nucleating on the sea floor is, in detail, unknown. but the technology required to harvest these undersea resources is formidable. and, as with off-shore oil drilling, there are serious environmental concerns. companies have experimented with dredging the ocean bottom for manganese nodules

using giant suction devices. this has been successful enough to excite some commercial interest. for example, in hawaiian waters, harvesting ores off the mid-ocean ridge probably requires more care and is prohibitively expensive. then there are environmental concerns. for example, if a mining operation were to ever start on a mid-ocean ridge, it couldn't help but to destroy the fragile and spectacular ecosystem which makes its habitat there. in addition to its economic applications, the use of sonar technology has helped scientists answer some profound questions about the nature and growth of the sea floor. for example, mapping shows how the positions of mid-ocean ridges change over time, and how the structures of ridges vary with different rates of spreading. despite the usefulness of indirect means

of studying the sea floor, more direct observations must sometimes be made. samples are dredged to examine the makeup of the sea bed, and cameras operated by remote control are sent to the bottom of the ocean. trying to take a picture is really hard because it's pitch black. you have to bring your own lighting. and turn it on and off. a glamourous way of studying the ocean floor is to go in a small submarine. i've taken 12 dives to the deep ocean. it's like going to mars. but that's very frustrating, too. it's like doing geology in a jeep at midnight with dirty windows with your headlights without ever being able to get out of the jeep. it's very frustrating business. it's lucky for us that the oceanic crust and the processes in the ocean are relatively simple compared to the land, or we'd never figure it out at all.

but even with these limitations, submersibles and remote cameras have provided a wealth of information about the sea floor. unique life forms thrive in the ocean environment, from the deep sea floor to the shallow continental shelves. many organisms live suspended in the water throughout most or all of their lives. others inhabit the ocean floor, burrowing into its soft sediment or scurrying across the silty bottom. life has been found in many unexpected places. one of the most spectacular discoveries occurred when submersibles first explored the active volcanic region atop the mid-ocean ridges. the most exciting adventure we've had in the submarine alvin was the discovery and exploration of the hot vents. they range from just a little bit warm to outrageously hot-- 350 degrees centigrade.

ordinarily, water would boil at 100 degrees, but the pressure's so high there that it doesn't boil, but it comes out extremely hot. when it's a little bit cooler, there are strange animals that live there that haven't been seen anywhere else, including long tube worms with bright red flesh. there are crabs running around eating everything else. giant clams like this with red flesh. all those animals are living on the chemical energy that's in the water of the vents. they have special bacteria that use hydrogen sulfide-- gas that poisons us if we get a tiny whiff. they're using it for its chemical energy and passing that down the food chain. it's a totally different ecological situation than we're used to. it's so exciting to see a living thing in such an alien environment. they're really bizarre. really bizarre.

these weird and wondrous denizens of the deep are the only examples of life which get their supply of energy and warmth from the interior of the earth itself. they live kilometers beneath the ocean surface in a world as alien as any encountered in outer space. the vast commitment of people and technology focused on understanding the sea floor is driven by two fundamental human motives. on one hand is our curiosity about the functioning of nature. the geology of the sea floor holds the answers to many vexing questions about the earth and its history. what is the origin of the atmosphere and hydrosphere? how and why do the tectonic plates move? and how are the earth's vast deposits of valuable resources like metallic ores and petroleum actually formed? the geology of the sea floor holds the answers to these questions and provides unexpected intellectual dividends

such as the fantastic discovery of a self-contained ecology associated with deep sea hydrothermal vents. on the other hand, we are compelled by the economic, political, and environmental realities brought on by our industrial, global civilization. it's here that our scientific curiosity converges with more immediate human needs. for example, understanding the geologic origin of oil and gas and metal ores improves our ability to find and develop these resources in marine environments. this ability is increasingly important as our continental supplies are depleted. the sea floor also plays a vital function in determining global climate, and understanding its function helps us to better address such environmental problems as the greenhouse effect, changing global climate, and rising sea level. the sea floor makes up over 2/3 of the earth's surface, and until recently, its vast submerged landscape remained virtually unknown.

but now, as we begin to know and understand this strange, dark world, wewe're learning new facts about the way our planet behaves, and discovering new opportunities to improve the future of all humankind. captioning performed by the national captioning institute, inc. captions copyright 1991 the corporation for community college television

annenberg media ♪ for information about this and other annenberg media programs call 1-800-learner and visit us at www.learner.org.

funding for this program [with captioning] was provided by: additional funding is provided by: and: narrator: each video episode has three parts. watch the program, read your book, discuss the program and... rebecca: ♪ that would be enough, enough for me ♪

♪ everybody needs a dream catcher ♪ ♪ catch me! nancy: ah! melaku: please watch out, this dish is very spicy. we use special hot peppers in ethiopian cooking. now rebecca, please take a piece of bread and eat what you like. well, let's drink to rebecca and welcome her to san francisco.

here's to the beginning of a new life! yes. here, here! as a californian! ( group laughs ) ah. this is great. ( coughs ) melaku: rebecca, would you like some more water? uh, yes, please. ah, you see, melaku not everyone believes that spice is the variety of life. angela, i believe the phrase you're looking for is "variety is the spice of life." it means... what does it mean, huh? watch out, rebecca-- edward loves to correct our speech. only when it's wrong. melaku: i'm glad you do. it helps me improve my english. you speak very well, melaku. many americans don't speak english as well as you do. i'll need it for my business someday. i'd like to hear from the new arrival.

you must be experiencing a certain amount of culture shock-- moving to a new city, sharing this old house with people you don't know, having a meal with a senior citizen let out for the evening. now, uncle, don't make everyone uncomfortable. i have to make my little jokes while i can, nancy. my trip out here has been... well, there've been several surprises since i left boston but i feel lucky... and thankful that my mom's best friend has taken me in and introduced me to all of you. i feel ready to take whatever comes my way. i'll even take some more of your ethiopian food, melaku... and some more water. ( all laugh ) don't ask, kevin. my car broke down, and this guy helped me out.

i had to sell my car and take the bus the rest of the way. anyway, how's dad? are you sure? no, don't wake him... just tell him everything's o.k. the house? it's fine... it'll be just fine. ( sobbing ) ( muffled sobbing ) kevin, i have to go. i'll talk to you and dad real soon, o.k.? me too, bye. ( crying continues ) what's wrong, nancy? is there anything i can do?

oh... not really. i don't think edward's going to come back for dinner anymore. no? oh, he said these trips wear him out and it takes him all week to recover. he was always such a strong man. maybe he'll feel better next week. yeah. i'll tell you, growing old ain't easy. see you in the morning. good night. good night.

morning. oh, good morning! well, it's all yours. thanks. see you later. good morning, angela. you look very sharp. thank you. well, i'm off to the library. i have a paper due in a few days. have you seen miss shaw? uh... no, why? i have to give her my rent check. oh! is it the first of the month already? yes. will you tell her i left the check on the hall table? yes. thank you. well... how was your walk?

good. my friend marsha's a little slow, but i guess she's getting old like the rest of us. i left my rent check on the hall table. oh, thank you. good morning. don't you look nice, all dressed up. thanks, i got this blouse on sale-- 50% off! good for you. well, i'm off to school and then off to my part time job. angela, don't forget, rent's due today. oh, yes, i know that. i'll give it to you tonight, o.k.? see you! uh... ( blender whirring )

rebecca: good morning. good morning. how did you sleep after your long bus ride? oh, i slept like a log. i was dead to the world. help yourself to some coffee. use the big, blue mug. consider it yours. thanks. mmm, the coffee smells good. nancy: the milk's in the refrigerator, the sugar's on the table. oh, that's o.k., i take it black. do you want a vitamin? no, thanks. so, what are your plans for today? i have a job interview at school. oh, that's why you look so... business-like. do you think it's o.k.? i'm not quite sure what they expect. it's fine. what kind of job are you applying for? i don't know. i'm supposed to work at the college to cover some of my tuition. oh, college is so expensive these days,

i don't know how anybody can afford it. some people get scholarships and there are student loans and work-study programs like mine. yes, but not everyone can get... oh, my gosh! look at the time. i don't want to be late for my interview. can you tell me how to get to the college by bus? take a right, go two blocks. you'll see the bus stop. take the number 1 bus. ask the bus driver to tell you where to get off. um, by the way, when is the rent money due? actually, it's due today but you can give it to me in a few days. good luck with your interview. thanks. ( piano music and singing emanating from rooms )

( jazz music emanating from practice room ) hello, i'm rebecca casey. hi, i'm maria gomez. how can i help you? i'm a new student. i'm here about my work-study arrangement. oh... uh-huh. didn't you receive our latest letter? what letter? we sent out a letter dated august 10th. because of budget cuts, we had to cancel our work-study program this year. but don't worry! you still have your partial scholarship. what? do you mean you don't have a job for me? i'm afraid not. i can't believe this. how am i going to pay for college? we tried to notify everyone.

i'm really very sorry, but because of government budget cuts, there's just no money for these programs. but i was counting on that money to help pay for tuition, books, living expenses and rent. i understand. we do have some alternatives. sometimes there are jobs off-campus that come in. why don't you check our bulletin board outside. outside? uh-huh, in the hallway. and i'll keep your resume here on file. um, i don't have a resume. you'll need one. here. use this one as a sample. and you can use our computer lab to type it and print it out. thanks. you're welcome.

narrator: now let's review and discuss the story. they are having dinner. well, let's drink to rebecca and welcome her to san francisco. here's to the beginning of a new life! yes. here, here! as a californian! she calls her brother in boston. don't ask, kevin. it's really hard to live with so many people in the same house. but they try to figure out how to live with all these people. morning. oh, good morning! rent is due. when is the rent money due? actually, it's due today. speaker: rebecca goes for a job interview at school. the college canceled her work-study program. what? do you mean you don't have a job for me? i'm afraid not. i can't believe this. how am i going to pay for college? speaker: rebecca is having culture shock.

i'd like to hear from the new arrival. you must be experiencing a certain amount of culture shock-- moving to a new city, sharing this old house with people you don't know, i'm really surprised that rebecca felt the way she did. it is funny, because i felt the same way. i felt very disoriented uh, at some points and i felt devastated not knowing what to do, where to go, what to say. and what is more difficult, i think is when you move to a land where people speak different language than the one you learned when you were little. when you move to a new place, it's really hard. it's really hard because you question yourself.

yes, i'm available right away. a car? no, i don't have a car. hello, i'm calling about the ad in the paper for a part-time receptionist... no, i worked in a factory for six years. oh, just a minute... hold on, i have to put in some more money. just a moment. hello? hello? i'm calling in response to your ad in the paper... yes. yes, i can come over right now. oh, yes! oh, i see you've worked for a computer company. yes, i worked for bull information systems in boston.

could you tell me something about your job there? i supervised a small department. i looked after the day-to-day operations, quality control-- that kind of thing. mm-hmm... well, we need somebody with a background in data entry. you're familiar with all the various computer programs, correct? i'm sorry. i don't really type that well. i didn't use the computers. i built them. i see, ms. casey. well, we're interviewing a lot of people. excuse me, i could learn very fast. well, thank you anyway for coming in. ♪ we're going to rock that clock today ♪ ♪ we're going to rock that clock away ♪ ♪ time's going to come, time's going to go ♪ ♪ we're going to rock ♪ ♪ then we're going to rock some more ♪ ♪ hey! ♪

yeah? i'm here about the job you advertised in today's paper. here's my resume. i'll have references in a couple of days. so tell me about yourself. well, i have six years' experience in computer manufacturing. i have experience as a team leader. i'm organized. i'm a hard worker. well, secretarial is what i'm interested in. oh... i do some typing and light bookkeeping but i'm available only part-time. oh. what do you do the rest of the time? you're not, uh... married, are you? no. i'm starting college-- music school. your ad in the paper said the job was part-time. i just want to make sure that it's definitely part-time. part time, that's possible, yeah. and what exactly is the job?

i'm looking for a personal secretary. mm-hmm, and what are the responsibilities? you know, uh... you'd answer the phone and do filing and make coffee-- that sort of thing. work closely with me. uh, what is the salary? well, now, that depends. i mean, let's just say that i'd... i'd like to have... an attractive woman... working with me. what do you say? i say forget it! ♪ scram jam, beat it and go ♪ ♪ get out of my life, and leave... ♪ angela: hey, rebecca. how was your day? don't ask. was it that bad? i went in for a job interview at the college, but no job-- budget cuts. oh, no... what are you going to do?

i answered a few "want ads" but... no luck. what about an employment agency? that's what i did. i tried. but i don't have enough word-processing skills. it's not easy to find a job. i was lucky to find mine. ugh, and in this one place, a factory, this guy said he wanted an attractive woman to work for him and then he touched me. no! disgusting! that's sexual harassment! that happened to me, too. i mean, don't you feel likeust slapping them? i did. ( laughs ) and then i lost my job. ( phone ringing ) rebecca, there's a phone call for you. for me? who is it? it's a man. hmm.

hello? who? alberto! rebecca ( over phone ): what a surprise. so, how was the bus trip? uh, it was... a long ride. listen, what are you doing tonight? tonight? nothing special. let me show you the city. oh, i don't know, i still have so much to do at the house. i won't take no for an answer. i'll be there in an hour. well? i have a date. ( doorbell rings ) i'm coming. good evening. hi. i'm here to see rebecca casey. oh, yes, uh... she'll be right down. rebecca! rebecca!

rebecca: i'll be right there. i'm angela carud. i live here. nice to meet you. i'm alberto mendoza. yes, i know. oh, melaku, this is alberto mendoza. he's here to see rebecca. this is melaku tadesse. good evening. it's nice to meet you. yes, nice to meet you, too. uh... i live here and melaku lives here. nancy lives here and now rebecca lives here, too. we all live here. hello. rebecca! is that you? well, yotwo... have fun! good-bye, angela. nice to meet you, angela. i didn't know you were going to live in a boardinghouse. a boardinghouse? yeah, with all these people, isn't that a boardinghouse? i guess it is. anyway, it's good to see you again.

you... look so different. what, because i'm wearing a dress instead of jeans? that and your hair... and everything, i guess. i could change back into my red sox jacket. no-- no, no, no. you look terrific. you haven't eaten, have you? no, not yet. good. i want to show you a bit of san francisco, then we'll have a fabulous meal. sounds good. let's go. thank you. that's o.k., i can get it. i remember the last time i was in this car. oh, yes-- the race through the desert to the bus station. it was just last week, but so much has happened since then. you in?

so, the bus ride was... ugh-- long, very long. i told you. now, remember, i did offer you a ride. oh, i do remember. remind me that i have something i want to give you... later-- just a little gift. for me? i should give you something after all your help. don't be silly. well, thank you. that's very thoughtful. are you going to tell me what it is? it's a surprise. i should warn you, i hate to wait. me, too. narrator: now let's review and discuss the story.

she has to get a job soon. speaker: she starts making phone calls. i'm calling about the ad in the paper for a part-time receptionist. we need somebody with a background in data entry. you're familiar with all the various computer programs, correct? i'm sorry. i don't really type that wel i didn't use the computers. i built them. i see, ms. casey. well, we're interviewing a lot of people. speaker: i can actually sympathize exactly with what rebecca was going through because when i was in college and looking for a job i discovered that unless you had computer experience you could get nowhere fast. that's true. that's very hard. she didn't have any experience about computers, about something else. she only worked in a factory. alberto called rebecca and asked her out. hello. who? let me show you the city. oh, i don't know, i still have so much to do at the house. maybe she was sick of men

after that experience at the factory. well, i don't think you can blame all men because somebody out there is a pig, you know. i'm looking for a personal secretary. mm-hmm, and what are the responsibilities? you know, uh... you'd answer the phone and do filing and make coffee-- that sort of thing. work closely with me. uh, what is the salary? well, now, that depends. i mean, let's just say that i'd... i'd like to have... an attractive woman... working with me. what do you say? i say forget it! this man that was offering the job was very sleazy. what do you mean by "sleazy"? he's offering a job. yeah, but he was insinuating more than a job, you know. she could have a job, but sex had to be involved. well, that is... in the business world...

that's called sexual harassment. funding for this program [with captioning] was provided by: additional funding is provided by:

and: