Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Reader's Digest

FROM THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR THE POND IS silent—until the first cry: “Found something!” A swimmer ducks into the water. She emerges, fist first, clutching a pair of bright blue children's swimming goggles. These are passed to a kayaker, who waggles them overhead, like a prize, before stowing them in a laundry basket for safekeeping. Over the next hour, on a cloudy Saturday morning in July, the team of 15-all over age 65, all women—hunts for trash across Mares Pond, a 28-acre kettle hole on Cape Cod, at depths of up to 8 feet. The divers turn up wooden planks, silty beer cans, a plastic container lid, a mud-caked fishing rod, a cement block and countless other bits of garbage. The day's pièce de résistance, though, is a 12-foot segment…

WHEN TENDER MEAT or veggies meet a fragrant, boldly spiced sauce, you need fluffy basmati rice and pillowy naan bread to soak up every drop. Although it's one of the most globally famous foods—recipes hail from India, Thailand, Japan and the Caribbean—curry can be a conundrum. “If you ask any Indian about curry, chances are they'll reply, ‘Which one?’ ” says food editor Amrita Thakkar. “Curry was a blanket term used by the British during the era of colonization for a wide variety of foreign dishes. Indian cuisine simply doesn't have one singular dish called curry.” Neither a specific flavor nor a single spice blend, curry (which simply means “sauce” or “gravy”) is similar in its vastness to the term pasta. Indeed, Indian curry variations are as diverse as the…

ROUGHLY 42% OF Americans are nearsighted today, compared to 25% in 1971. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that about half of the world's population will have myopia, or nearsightedness, by 2050. It's clear that our vision is becoming increasingly blurry, but researchers are only now beginning to understand why. Generally a childhood phenomenon, myopia happens when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, taking on more of an oval shape versus a sphere. Eyes have a “stop signal” so that they grow proportionally with the head, explains Gregory Schwartz, an associate professor at the Departments of Ophthalmology and Neuroscience at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. However, that signal can be interrupted by genetic and environmental factors, which leads to our eyeballs growing a bit…

A long-married couple is dining out at a fine restaurant when the husband orders a Scotch. “I've never had Scotch,” the wife tells the waiter. “Bring me one too.” The waiter returns with two Scotches. The wife takes a swallow and gags. “This is awful! How can you drink this?” Between sips, her husband says, “And here you thought I was out enjoying myself every night.” —Submitted by GARY KATZ Long Grove, IL Many sailors agree that the best part of owning a boat is naming it. If you're looking for a moniker, here are suggestions from the National Boat Owners Association. ✦ A Wave from It All ✦ Sail la Vie ✦ Seas the Day ✦ Fishizzle ✦ Lady Kriller ✦ Marlin Monroe ✦ Tuna Colada ✦ Baits Motel…

1. haptic adj. ('hap-tik) A unfeeling B blind C tactile 2. mien n. (meen) A sound effect B earlobe C appearance 3. redolent adj. ('reh-duh-luhnt) A soft B aromatic C pressed 4. descry v. (duh-'skry) A discover B shout C taste 5. noisome adj. ('noy-suhm) A loud B flat C offensive 6. coruscate v. ('kor-uh-skayt) A glitter B scratch C perceive 7. tactual adj. ('tak-choo-uhl) A tasteful B tangible C temperate 8. tincture n. ('tingk-chr) A pigment B probe C irritant 9. piquant adj. ('pee-knt) A spicy B textured C deafening 10. osculate v. ('ah-skyuh-layt) A push B kiss C rotate 11. lucently adv. ('loo-snt-lee) A silently B radiantly C forcefully 12. sapid adj. ('sa-puhd) A weak B gaseous C savory 13. attar n. ('a-tuhr) A fragrant oil B tooth cavity C tear duct 14. acetous adj. (uh-'see-tuhs) A stunted B runny C vinegary 15. sonorous adj. ('sah-nr-uhs) A unsightly B loud C incandescent The (Real) Sixth Sense The name of the 1999 thriller is an actual thing, but it's not about seeing dead people.…

Thanks, Teach Over 27 years of teaching art at Dixie Heights High School in Edgewood, Kentucky, Terri Schatzman has seen a lot. But what she saw on her last day broke her: Students gifted their beloved mentor an iPad so she could work on her own digital art in retirement. Go to rd.com/teacherthanks to see the video, and more for Teacher Appreciation Month. Just be warned: You may be fanning tears from your face alongside Schatzman. Fight the Power! What's one small but satisfying way you rebel? While not exactly tossing tea into Boston Harbor, little acts of defiance keep us alive, or at least amused. Editor Caroline Fanning likes to sign for purchases with her John Hancock-literally—“John Hancock.” See terms and share your story at rd.com/rebel. A Picture Is…

Ewe Had to Be There Two years ago, a kayaker spotted a lone sheep stranded at the bottom of 820-foot-tall sheer cliffs in Scotland. Rescue was deemed too dangerous. Then, last November, a group of five local ranchers decided the sheep had been alone long enough. The ranchers, who had climbing experience, brought along a winch and plenty of rope. Two of them stayed at the top to lower the other three down. Once on the ground, the rescuers tied rope around the sheep, and she was winched back up the cliff. Remarkably, a rescuer told BBC News, she was in great shape. If anything, “she is overfat—it was some job lifting her up that slope.” Freed from her solitary confinement, Fiona, as she's now known, will live out her…

✦Seniors at my kids’ high school hired a mariachi band to follow the principal around all day. ✦The seniors of two Alabama schools reversed places and showed up at the other school. It was midday before the teachers caught on. ✦The relocation of the principal's office— including everything that wasn't nailed down— out onto a field. Everything was in the same position as in his actual office. They even ran an electrical cord so that he was able to work outside. ✦They put the assistant principal's car up for sale on Craigslist. It said, “Proceeds will benefit the class of __.” ✦While the history teacher was called to the office for a minute, all the seniors went into the room next door and a class of second graders filled the…

My friend Tom runs a whale watch cruise. Recently, his avid whale watcher and friend, Buddy, died. So Tom canceled his nightly cruise and organized a private memorial service. More than 80 of Buddy's friends and family members came to say a last goodbye. Among the passengers was a serious-looking young woman who sat quietly by herself and whom no one seemed to know. The service went well, with lots of laughter, a few tears and great stories about Buddy. Then the boat returned to the dock, and, as the young woman departed, Captain Tom thanked her for attending. We should be able to call in healthy. “Look, I'm not coming into the office today. I feel really good and I don't want to waste it on being at work.”…

I STARE AT MY phone for five hours a day. At least, that's what an impertinent weekly notification tells me. As a result, I've developed “tech neck”— head forward, shoulders rounded and back slumped—and it causes pain in my back, shoulders and neck. I saw a physical therapist who recommended some stretches to help alleviate the tension. For a week, I took a five-minute break, three times each day, to roll my head up and down into a chin tuck, slip onto a mat and into cobra pose (lie on your stomach with your palms on the mat, next to your shoulders, then raise your upper body and look forward) and do a few spinal rotations (sitting cross-legged on the floor, reach for your left knee with your right hand,…

The United States has 13 different zones of plant hardiness, but horticultural zones are just a starting point. You'll find lots more information on what you can grow at the websites for these national organizations: • The National Gardening Association • American Horticultural Society • American Rose Society • The Garden Professors But for the best intel on which plants will grow in your area, check regional resources such as these: • Cornell University Home Gardening • Massachusetts Horticultural Society • Missouri Botanical Garden's Plant Finder • Colorado State University PlantTalk • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin • Great Plant Picks • University of California's California Garden Web See more at rd.com/list/expert-gardening -tips-for-beginners/.…

Don't Poke the Bears A black bear approached our campsite in Shenandoah National Park, so we slowly walked away. Meanwhile, a man from the next campsite walked toward the bear, clapping his hands and yelling, “GO, BEAR! GO!” Magically, the bear went back into the woods. When it returned hours later, I stood my ground, loudly clapped and yelled, “GO, BEAR!” It didn't work right away as it had for our camping neighbor, but the bear did leave after several rounds. As it lumbered away, I heard someone running toward us. It was the man from earlier. “I forgot to tell you,” he panted, “if you say ‘Go, bear, go’ and it doesn't go, YOU need to go.” —CINDY STRAIGHT Crownsville, MD Overheard the Herd My best friend and I…

Our Best Stories Spanning 100 Years! We editors love to reminisce about our magazine's greatest hits, and we thought you might like it too. So we put together The Best of Reader's Digest (which can be yours for just $10 for a limited time). In this compendium of our all-time favorites, you'll find stories that are funny, poignant, and often both: Take, for instance, the 1987 account of a WWII veteran who bonds unexpectedly with a wild timber wolf! To order your copy, visit RD.com/BST50.…

LAST SEPTEMBER, FIVE men jumped out of a hot air balloon 38,139 feet above New Mexico. After free-falling 34,067 feet, they linked arms for roughly five seconds before separating and deploying their parachutes. The men—73-year-old Larry Connor and four Air Force pararescuers—set the record for the highest high-altitude, low-opening formation skydive, meaning they gutted it out longer than anyone else before opening their chutes. The feat raised more than $1 million for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides educational opportunities for the children of Special Ops Forces lost in the line of duty. Connor, a thrill-seeking millionaire who once flew to the International Space Station, told People, “I've found the impossible is just somebody's opinion.”…

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST GARY GUADAGNO HAD lost hope of ever finding his parents’ wedding rings. While selling his childhood home in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 2011, just before his mother's passing, Guadagno searched high and low for the rings. He didn't find them. He figured his mother, who had Alzheimer's, had thrown them out. He was devastated, but didn't know what else to do besides move on. “They're keepsakes and part of my family legacy,” he says. A decade passed and the rings never turned up. Then, last September, Guadagno got a Facebook message from Hannah Keuscher, who had bought his mother's house back in 2011. Her husband, Josh Martin, had discovered a jewelry box with two rings inside a kitchen light fixture. Keuscher and Martin suspected they held sentimental…

✦ A parent emailed me to ask if their student could take an upcoming math test on a different day because they had a golf tee time scheduled during the test. ✦ I once had a second grade parent complain to the administration that they liked last year's teacher much better. I had taught this same student in first grade. ✦ A mom complained to my principal because she didn't like my fun Friday bubblegum font. I had to change it. ✦ A parent wrote, “Since my child sees a speech pathologist for the halfhour after lunch, I'd appreciate it if you didn't teach anything new until he returns to the classroom.” ✦ A mom, concerned that her kindergartner son wasn't drinking enough water, asked me to check the toilet…

BATTLING CANCER WITH BUBBLES After 20 years in development, a new kind of cancer treatment with seemingly minimal side effects has arrived on the market. Histotripsy (Greek for “tissue crushing”) uses ultrasound waves to make microscopic gas bubbles form and pop within bodily tissues. A machine called the Edison System can make these waves target tumors, destroying the abnormal cells. The patient's own immune system then cleans up the debris. Rodent studies suggest that in doing so, bodies get better at recognizing the cancer cells and fighting them off. In a recent clinical trial, histotripsy successfully destroyed tumors in 42 out of 44 liver cancer patients. So far, it's authorized only for liver tumors, and only in the United States. But developers hope it will go on to treat other…

FROM THE BOOK INCITING JOY It's that time of year again. I'm sitting in front of the fire, looking through a small stack of seed catalogs—from High Mowing Organic Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, The Maine Potato Lady. Today, though, I am loving the Fedco catalog because it is printed on newsprint, with the veggies and fruit depicted not with photographs but with beautiful and sometimes goofy drawings. One is an excellent rendering of someone drawing back a bow and arrow, except the arrow is a pod of peas. In another, some pumpkin-shaped people are admiring a pumpkin. A couple of leaves of the dinosaur kale are cute, happy baby dinosaurs. That kind of thing. There is no greater sucker for seeds than me. When I flip through these pages of…

Y OU'RE PROBABLY AWARE that your frothy coffee drink or bakery scone is loaded with sugar. But did you know that startling amounts of added sugar are also lurking in your breakfast cereal, dairy-free milk alternative and even takeout fried chicken? “Americans are simply consuming too much sugar,” says Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Most people consume three times the recommended daily limit of sugar. And it's not just a harmless habit. “The research has been very consistent and the findings quite convincing that eating too much sugar can lead to a wide range of adverse health effects,” says Hu. Even if you've gotten the message that too much sugar isn't good for your health and are taking steps to…

FROM THE BALTIMORE SUN My mother stopped talking a couple of months ago, and it was something of a shock. Mom was a legendary kibitzer. In the days before cellphones, she had a princess landline installed on the wall of her bathroom so that even Mother Nature couldn't interrupt a conversation. Need an opinion—or not? She had one either way. When she entered assisted living five years ago, her stories—about her three husbands, her acquaintanceships with various U.S. senators while working on Capitol Hill, and her days as a tap-dancing grandma—captivated the aides. They spent their breaks in her room, laughing and lapping up the received wisdom. To fill her now-silent days, my sister and I would turn on show tunes or the TV, but she ignored them, just like…