The writer seems to have something on the fire.

My comments:

Had the writer been a cook, it would be easier to understand what it means for he/she to have something on the fire.

For a cook to have something on the fire is for them to have something cooking, slowly stewing.

By analogy, to say the writer seems to have something on the fire is to say that he seems to have something on his mind, which he is writing on or perhaps will write about some day.

Anyways, he’s at least pondering about it, thinking, musing, meditating, chewing over it.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.