Dream

By: Sheng LiangnDQ中国英语学习网
作者：梁晟

Prologue

In 1915, Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity, which, for the first time in the history, enabled the scientific speculations of altering time; in various superstitions or even religions, dreams are considered a powerful tool of foreseeing the future. Sometimes I ask myself; is there a correlation between the two?

The Dream

"Ah!" Tom screamed while sitting up on bed, Horrified. His face looked pale under the dim moonlight and misted by his own exhalation. "No...no…can't be…" twisting his body on the bed, Tom whined painfully.

It was a dream. It was a dream that was different from every other dream Tom had ever had. The dream was not like the kind of dream that he had only a few memories of, or the kind of dream where he remembered fractions of images.

The dream appeared too real to be considered just a dream. Tom was intrigued with all his senses. It made him feel as if he was actually in the dream, and the world after he woke up was a sham.

The atmosphere was shadowed by the pouring rain. Tom was driving his Cadillac on Crosston Street. The nervousness and excitement of the upcoming meeting rushed upon Tom's brain. "3 million dollars, you have to make it!" he repeatedly told himself, afraid of losing the biggest opportunity he had ever had in his business life.

It was already 3:43 PM. Tom had to be at the board room by four. Tom started worrying about both being late for the meeting and the meeting itself. "I just need to be there on time, present my project, and I'll get the deal." Again, he tried another rehearsal of his presentation and felt reassured that he knew every bit of what he was going to do.

Tom took a deep breath and confidently smiled to himself.

"Bump!"

A deafening sound of metallic collision reechoed in the quiet but crowded city. It all came too fast. Tom only saw a vague silhouette of another car heading right toward him. He hastened turning the steering wheel sideway, and then he saw the guidepost with the name "Crosston Street" looming in front of his windshield…

Tom reached his hand to his back, touching the uninjured skin. The reality of being alive suddenly seemed unrealistic to him. The meeting…it is tomorrow…and the company is on Crosston Street…everything matches…the dream…it was only a dream… Covered by his two hands, Tom's face was perplexed and languished. His mind was struggling between common sense and the superstitious idea that, the dream will actually happen.

Suddenly, Tom stood up, looking determined. "Whether it's true or not, I'm going to find out."

The Theory

"Hello? Is Dr. Armstrong here?" Tom asked, stepping into a dusty but spacious room, surrounded by blackboards full of bizarre formulas and calculations. A man in his fifties came out from the other side of the room. He wore an old, yellowish gown, looking shrewd and quite different from the family name Armstrong. "You must be Mr. Jacobson, how do you do? I am Dr. Armstrong," The professor said with a British accent "How may I help you?"

"Yesterday, I found your paper on the internet about the theory of the relation between the dreaming process and time traveling. I find it very interesting, so can you explain your theory to me in a plainer way, since I'm not quite a science person and can't understand your scientific paper."

"Huh, with pleasure. But mind you, my theory is just a hypothetical one without any experimental proof. Frankly, you are the first person who is interested in my theory in the past four years."

"I couldn't care less," Tom mumbled.

"Ok, then. First of all, according to Einstein, every moving object is practically bending the time and space, and the faster the object moves, the more it bends the space and time. Therefore it experiences less time. In my theory, when a person is asleep, there are many electrical impulses, which travel at the speed of light, going through our nerve system. In an ideal situation, an impulse will bend a tiny area of time and create a short cut to the future, and through that opening, some similar impulses from the future will come in. Hopefully, the brain picks up the incoming signals from the future and makes prophecies. Just like those stories in religions."

Tom fell into deep thought. He asked, "According to your theory, what will happen if the future is not exactly the same way as the signals that come into your dreams show?"

"Well, that won't happen. Otherwise my calculations don't work out and the theory is wrong. But mind you, science is always wrong and incomplete, even a great physicist like Newton makes mistakes."

Walking out of Dr. Armstrong's room, Tom felt a comforting breeze touching his skin. That was just a dream, nothing more than that. If it really is like what the professor said, I am not driving my Cadillac today. The scenario will not be the same as the dream! Now, let me focus on the real stuff. 3 million dollars!

Tom decided to take the metro to the company.

The End

Finally, Tom reached his stop. The sunny weather was long gone. A heavy rain, instead, curtained the musty air. A strong feeling of nausea rushed upon Tom's throat. He looked at his watch; it was 3:43 PM.

His heart wrenched. The horror of the dream resurfaced in front of him, and completely wiped out his earlier self-assuredness Coincidence! It must be coincidence! The company is right on the other side of the street. I just need to walk a few steps to reach there. There is no way that I am going to be in my Cadillac now! If I am not in a car, how can I die in a car crash?

Tom sped up his pace.

No, I won't die! It's impossible! My car is not even here!

Tom started crossing the street.

Huh! Here is where I crash my car, and I am walking. I am still…

"Bump!"

A tinny streak flashed across Tom's sight, and then he lost his vision. The last thing he saw was the guidepost with the name "

Epilogue

A few days ago, I have read an article that says however human kind tries to alter the future by applying relativity theory; the universe tends to spend the least amount of energy possible. As a result, whatever we try to change will have the exact same ending or be only trivially different. I ask myself; is it not what we call fate?

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2007年6月6日