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CAES2802: Advanced English for Science Students Grammar Proof-reading Diagnostic Semester 2, 2013-14
Test Instruction:
The following article was written for the Improve Hong Kong web journal. It is well written but contains a number of errors. Find the errors and correct them. IMPORTANT: Make sure you mark your corrections clearly by crossing out unwanted words, writing additions clearly and indicating where they should be added, for example:
Change this: Tired students working late night cannot see his book clearly.

at
To this:

their

Tired students working late night cannot see his book clearly.

Corrections which do not clearly indicate your intention will be ignored in marking. All corrections must be made directly in this test booklet.

NOTE THE SCORING SYSTEM: -You gain a mark for each accurate correction -You lose a mark each time you add an error -Changes to existing errors which do not correct them will neither gain nor lose marks.

The test begins on the next page.

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HKU Astronomer looking to the stars to understand how we got here.

Since the beginning of time people have wondered about how we came to exist. How was life on earth first borned? In the earliest times people looked up to the stars and imagined gods and goddesses in the constellations that brought life to earth, but as scientific thought came to predominate and the theory of evolution came to be widely accepting we began to look back and imagine that man evolved from organisms that were borned in a primordial soup. The theory assumes that life in earth is due to chemical reactions that somehow results in the spontaneous generation of living organisms where none previously existed. Besides, it is thought that these simple organisms then evolved into complex life. Those prehistoric notions of life originating in the stars were died with the rise of modern scientific thinking and the theory of evolution. Even just a few decades ago, if a scientist had suggested that life had come from the stars the idea was dismissed1, but recent advances on our understanding of astrophysics are changing this perception and astrochemists of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are leading the charge. In his recent book, Stardust: The Cosmic Seeds of Life, Professor Sun Kwok, an internationally recognizing expert to the subjects of astrochemistry and stellar evolution is describing how the combined efforts of astronomers, chemists, space scientists and even geologists and biologists have helped us form a new scenario for explain the origin of life on Earth. Of course, students and scientists also know that

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Professor Kwok is a Chair Professor of Physics and the Dean of the Faculty of Science at HKU! Professor Kwoks research into the stars has lead to some surprised answers on one of the most basic questions that philosophers ask: Where do we come from? Although some early experiments are showing that amino-acids could form under the right conditions, and this is the foundation for the notion of a so-called primordial soup theory, Kwok instead looks to the stars for an answer to this daunting question. Besides, he draws upon evidence gathered from the both the analysis of meteorites which have landed to earth as well as infrared telescopes to demonstrate that the fundamental building blocks necessary for life were actually being generated constantly by stars and spewed throughout the universe. In his book Kwok explains that one of the most important technologies that allows astronomers to understand the universe beyond our planet is ability to use infrared telescopes. Infrared astronomy vastly expanded our understanding of the universe because it allowed scientists to see into space as never before. Although rather than being limited to the stars that produce visible light, new infrared telescopes allowed us to understand that dying stars actually produce matter similar to that which occurs on earth. Professor Kwoks work helped astronomers to understand that in the stages when a star is dying it produces so much stardust that it becomes completely enshrouded in a cocoon. Although this shroud of dust prevents any visible light from escaping, but it also makes these stars shine brightly when viewed with an infrared

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telescope. It is this barrier of dust that is hiding these dying stars from the view of astronomers in the past. Because infrared sensors allow us to see the materials being sent into space by these stars they now understand that materials like carbon are produced and expelled in large quantities as the product of nuclear reactions in the final years before a star dies. As the science of space observation developed astronomers began to use their knowledge of molecular structures to identify the composition of matter in space based on the frequency of signals received through radio receivers. This area of

study resulted in the birth of the scientific discipline of astrochemistry. Professsor Kwok explains to his writing that astrochemistry shows us that although scientists dont quite know how molecules are being made in space, they are being made quickly and efficiently. This is important because it shows us that the building

blocks for life as we know it are being generated in abundance in space. The truly fascinated aspect of this research is that Professor Kwok and his colleague, Dr. Yong Zhang at the University of Hong Kong discovered that a substance found throughout the universe contains aromatic and aliphatic components2. The chemical structures of these organic components were similar to coal and petroleum, which were products of ancient life on earth. The team investigated some features of infrared transmissions which had previously been unexplained by scientists. Before his work the prevailing theory is that the chemical structures producing these spectral signatures came from simple organic molecules made of carbon and hydrogen atoms, but Kwok and Zhang have

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showed that these infrared transmissions are being generated by far more complex chemical structures. Theoretically, it is not possible for these structures to be

generated in space, but the observational evidence produced by analyzing spectra of star dust shows that stars are producing complex organic compounds in very short periods of times, just weeks. Besides indicating that matter is produced more

abundantly than previously thought, this means that the time frames are far shorter than could have been imagined before. These organic compounds are then being spewed into interstellar space where it can become part of asteroids and comets. Since the early earth was bombarded by

meteors, it is possible that the basic components for life come from space, and not from a primordial soup. Professor Kwoks curiosity and research show that one of the most amazed aspects to science is that what we know to be true is always changing. Peering into a telescope at distant stars has not only raised novel questions and new understanding of the basic questions that all people ask but also showed that HKU is a world leader of astrochemistry. No changes necessary in bibliography Bibliography 1. Kwok, Sun. Stardust : the cosmic seeds of life. London: Springer, 2013. 2. Kwok, S., Zhang, Y., Mixed Aromatic-Aliphatic Organic Nanoparticles as Carriers of Unidentified Infrared Emission Features, Nature, 479, 8083. 2011.

END OF TEST

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