I've made good friends with this seventeen-year-old Indian girl named Tulsi. She works with me scrubbing the temple floors every day. Every evening we take a walk through the gardens of the Ashram together and talk about God and hip-hop music, two subjects for which Tulsi feels equivalent devotion. Tulsi is just about the cutest little bookworm of an Indian girl you ever saw, even cuter since one lens of her "specs" (as she calls her eye-glasses) broke last week in a cartoonish spiderweb design, which hasn't stopped her from wearing them. Tulsi is so many interesting and foreign things to me at once--a teenager, a tomboy, an Indian girl, a rebel in her family, a soul who is so crazy about God that it's almost like she's got a schoolgirl crush on Him. She also speaks a delightful¹, lilting English--the kind of English you can find only in India--which includes such colonial words as "splendid!" and "nonsense!" and sometimes produces eloquent² sentences like: "It is beneficial to walk on the grass in the morning when the dew has already been accumulated, for it lowers naturally and pleasantly the body's temperature." When I told her once that I was going to Mumbai for the day, Tulsi said, "Please stand carefully, as you will find there are many speeding buses everywhere."

Tulsi and I have been talking a lot about marriage lately during our walks. Soon she will turn eighteen, and this is the age when she will be regarded as a legitimate³ marriage prospect⁴. It will happen like this--after her eighteenth birthday, she will be required to attend family weddings dressed in a sari, signaling her womanhood. Some nice Amma ("Aunty") will come and sit beside her, start asking questions and getting to know her: "How old are you? What's your family background? What does your father do? What universities are you applying to? What are your interests? When is your birthday?" Next thing you know, Tulsi's dad will get a big envelope in the mail with a photo of this woman's grandson who is studying computer sciences in Delhi, along with the boy's astrology charts and his university grades and the inevitable⁵ question, "Would your daughter care to marry him?"

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1 delightful
adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的
参考例句：
We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。 Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

2 eloquent
adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的
参考例句：
He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。 These ruins are an eloquent reminder of the horrors of war.这些废墟形象地提醒人们不要忘记战争的恐怖。

3 legitimate
adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法
参考例句：
Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。 That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

4 prospect
n.前景，前途；景色，视野
参考例句：
This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。 The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 inevitable
adj.不可避免的，必然发生的
参考例句：
Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。 The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

6 wedded
adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
She's wedded to her job. 她专心致志于工作。 I was invited over by the newly wedded couple for a meal. 我被那对新婚夫妇请去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 tarnished
（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏
参考例句：
The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。 His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

8 dressing
n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料
参考例句：
Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。 The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

9 meditating
a.沉思的，冥想的
参考例句：
They were meditating revenge. 他们在谋划进行报复。 The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics. 这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

10 dedicated
adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的
参考例句：
He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。 His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

11 psychology
n.心理，心理学，心理状态
参考例句：
She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。 He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

12 commendable
adj.值得称赞的
参考例句：
The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。 Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

13 outrageous
adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的
参考例句：
Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。 Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

14 frustrated
adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧
参考例句：
It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。 The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》