Dr Cook:en To Zh

Overview

This module translates English academic text to Chinese while preserving academic register, domain-specific terminology, and the conventions of formal written Chinese (书面语). It does not perform word-for-word conversion — it actively selects the correct Chinese equivalent for each technical term, consulting references/term-mapping.md for canonical mappings. English sentence structures that do not transfer naturally into Chinese academic writing are restructured appropriately. After translation is complete, this module offers to pass its output to chinese-polisher for further style refinement.

Parameters

Required:

• domain — research domain of the source text. Accepted values: tcm | bioinformatics | clinical | pharmacology. Determines which terminology standard governs translation choices and which section of term-mapping.md takes precedence.

Optional:

• target_audience — intended readership context. Accepted values: academic_journal | clinical_report | popular_science | grant_application. Default: academic_journal. Affects formality and technical depth of the Chinese output: academic_journal uses dense 书面语; clinical_report uses clear concise prose; popular_science simplifies terminology with brief explanations; grant_application emphasizes clarity and national-standard terminology for reviewers.
• preserve_tcm_terms — boolean. Default: true. For TCM content, use standard Chinese terminology from term-mapping.md rather than literal back-translation of English equivalents. When translating from an English source that used English TCM equivalents (e.g., "syndrome differentiation"), look up the canonical Chinese form via reverse lookup in term-mapping.md (e.g., 辨证论治).
• target_journal — name or abbreviation of the intended Chinese publication venue. When provided, translation choices are adapted to that journal's documented style conventions and any venue-specific terminology preferences.

Workflow

Step 1 — Check upstream context. Inspect context_output. If context_output.raw_text exists and context_output.language is en, use that text as the source. Otherwise prompt the user: "Please paste the English text you would like translated to Chinese."

Step 2 — Collect missing required parameters. If domain is not present in either the user's request or context_output.parameters, ask once: "What is the domain of this text? (tcm / bioinformatics / clinical / pharmacology)". Wait for the answer before proceeding. Do not solicit optional parameters unless the user volunteers them.

Step 3 — Load term-mapping.md. Read references/term-mapping.md. For domain: tcm, use the TCM Core Concepts table for reverse lookup (English → Chinese). For domain: bioinformatics, use the Bioinformatics Terms table to select established Chinese equivalents. For clinical and pharmacology domains, rely on discipline-specific international nomenclature adapted to Chinese academic conventions (NMPA terminology for pharmacology; national clinical reporting standards for clinical). Keep the loaded tables active through Steps 4 and 5.

Step 4 — Translate the full text.

Apply the following rules:

• Formal written Chinese (书面语): Use formal academic Chinese throughout. Avoid spoken register (口语), colloquialisms, or overly casual phrasing. Sentence structures should reflect Chinese academic norms, not a direct transposition of English syntax.
• Sentence restructuring: English academic sentences often use extensive subordinate clauses and relative clauses that become unwieldy in direct Chinese translation. Restructure to natural Chinese academic flow: Chinese academic sentences can be longer and may use parallel structures (排比) effectively; avoid over-fragmentation of English compound sentences.
• Bioinformatics terms (domain: bioinformatics): Use established Chinese equivalents from term-mapping.md as primary terms. On first use of each term, append the English abbreviation in parentheses: "差异表达基因 (DEG)", "基因集富集分析 (GSEA)". Subsequent occurrences may use either the Chinese term or the abbreviation alone, whichever is clearer in context.
• Gene and protein names: Retain English HGNC names exactly as-is. Do not translate gene symbols (TP53 remains TP53; NF-κB remains NF-κB including Greek letters and formatting). Gene names are not italicized in Chinese academic convention but retain their exact English form inline.
• TCM terminology (domain: tcm, preserve_tcm_terms: true): Use GB/T standard Chinese terms (GB/T 16751.1-1997 where applicable). If translating from English TCM equivalents (e.g., "syndrome differentiation and treatment"), look up the canonical Chinese form via term-mapping.md reverse lookup (辨证论治). Do not invent new Chinese TCM terms for concepts that have established equivalents.
• Units and statistics: Keep SI units, p-values, confidence intervals, and numerical values exactly as written in the source. Do not translate unit symbols or reformat statistical expressions.

Step 5 — Post-translation quality check.

Scan the draft translation for:

• Literal translations that sound unnatural in academic Chinese: e.g., avoid "在…的情况下" where a more direct construction is possible; avoid translating every English connector (however, furthermore) with its most literal Chinese counterpart when the Chinese sentence structure makes them redundant.
• Sentence length balance: check that English complex sentences have been restructured rather than simply rendered as a single overlong Chinese sentence; and that English short sentences have not been over-fragmented into staccato Chinese clauses.
• TCM term standards: verify that TCM terms match national standard equivalents from GB/T 16751.1-1997 as reflected in term-mapping.md. Flag any term where only an informal or non-standard Chinese form was available.
• English gene/protein names: confirm all HGNC symbols are retained in their original English form and are not altered or translated.

Step 6 — Present output.

Deliver the translated text, then a brief glossary of key technical terms handled during translation. Limit the glossary to 10 entries; choose entries where a non-obvious translation decision was made (e.g., a bioinformatics abbreviation with multiple possible Chinese renderings, or a TCM term requiring reverse lookup). Do not list routine vocabulary.

Step 7 — Offer next step.

After presenting output, ask: "Would you like me to polish this Chinese text for academic style? (runs chinese-polisher)"

Output Format

## 译文

[Full Chinese text]

---
## 关键术语处理

| 英文原文 | 中文译文 | 说明 |
|---------|---------|------|
| DEG | 差异表达基因 (DEG) | 保留英文缩写 |
| syndrome differentiation | 辨证论治 | 按GB/T标准 |
| TP53 | TP53 | 保留英文HGNC格式 |

If any translation choices were flagged in Step 5 as potentially non-standard, append:

---
## 术语说明

- <term> — <reason this choice was made or alternative to consider>

context_output

Reads from upstream:

• raw_text — source English text (if passed from a prior module)
• domain — domain override from upstream
• target_journal — journal context from upstream
• language — used to confirm source language is en

Writes to downstream:

{
  "module": "en-to-zh",
  "domain": "<collected>",
  "language": "zh",
  "raw_text": "<Chinese translation>",
  "summary": "Translated [N words] from English to Chinese; [N] technical terms standardized",
  "parameters": {
    "target_audience": "academic_journal",
    "preserve_tcm_terms": true
  },
  "status": "success",
  "error_message": "string | null"
}

References

• references/term-mapping.md — canonical English↔Chinese term tables for TCM and bioinformatics domains. Loaded at Step 3.