Years ago, when I was very small, we lived in a great house in a long, straight, brown-coloured street, in the east end of London. It was a noisy, crowded street in the daytime; but a silent, lonesome street at night, when the gas-lights, few and far between, partook of the character of lighthouses rather than of illuminants, and the tramp, tramp of the policeman on his long beat seemed to be ever drawing nearer, or fading away, except for brief moments when the footsteps ceased, as he paused to rattle a door or window, or to flash his lantern into some dark passage leading down towards the river.
陆士谔32岁（1910年）写下的代表作，这是一部令人万分惊叹的小说。小说以第一人称写作，是一部以梦为载体的幻想之作。主人公陆云翔在1910年做了一个梦，醒来后他惊异地发现上海已是一派全新的繁华景象。城市里地铁穿梭，洋房鳞次栉比，跑马厅附近修建了大剧院，陆家嘴成为金融中心……所涉及的领域涵盖了科技、交通、建筑、医学、工业等诸多方面，与今天的真实情况所差无几。此外，书中还提到很多事物，如通光避雨的雨街、供普通百姓乘坐的飞车、可以在水面自由行走的水行鞋、类似电影情节效果的焰火、只用“汽”不用水的新式浴法等，至今尚待实现。本书最令人称奇之处，是写到万国博览会，即现在所称的世界博览会在上海举办的情景：“一座很大的铁桥，跨着黄浦，直筑到对岸浦东……开办万国博览会，为了上海没处可以建筑会场，特在浦东辟地造屋。那时，上海人因往来不便，才提议建造这桥的。现在，浦东地方已兴旺的与上海差不多了。”小说预言的细节与百年之后的现实精确吻合，令人惊奇。
