Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022 i Reader's Digest

ON A LIST of life goals that I have so far failed to complete, learning a foreign language is somewhere near the top. I always wanted to be fluent in a second language. But aside from memorizing a few useful phrases in high school Spanish and taking a Japanese course in college, I have yet to master a foreign language. My wife, Melissa Gorski, has all the talent in this department. She can learn a language in a weekend—at least enough to get around a foreign city. She’s handy with Spanish and French. She once taught herself Japanese using an off-brand CD box set before a trip to Tokyo. Then she did it again with Italian. These days, we know our roles when traveling: She does all the talking, and…

TIMOTHY MUCCIANTE WAS an executive producer working on a film called Lucky when something in the script struck him as odd. The film was based on the 1999 memoir of the same title by Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones. It recounts her sexual assault in 1981 while a freshman at Syracuse University. It was late at night when Sebold was walking alone back to her dorm. As she entered a tunnel, a man brandishing a knife grabbed her, threw her to the ground, and raped her. The book’s title came from a police officer who said a girl had once been murdered in that tunnel. By comparison, the officer told Sebold, she’d been “lucky.” In October of that year, Sebold said a man on a Syracuse street called…

COOKING 1 Preserve Your Herbs Once you have a nice dinner on the table, it’s difficult to predict when you’ll be up to such gourmet cooking again. But don’t let those handfuls of chopped rosemary, oregano, thyme, and dill go to waste. Freeze leftover herbs in olive oil in an ice cube tray, then while warming a pan for your next pièce de résistance, toss in a cube or two to melt. The herb-olive oil mixture will leave the pan both lubricated and seasoned. SOURCE: RD.COM MONEY 2 Turn Gift Cards into Savings No matter how badly you want something, it’s hard not to dip into the money you keep setting aside. To make sure those funds stay untouched, buy and save gift cards until you have the amount you…

WHEN BUBBLE TEA was first introduced to the United States about 30 years ago, you could get it only in mom-and-pop shops in big-city Chinatown and Koreatown. Now it’s popping up in cafés around the country; Baskin-Robbins even offered a version this spring and summer. Classic bubble tea is black tea brewed with milk and sugar, then poured over ice and tapioca pearls (also known as balls or boba; bubble tea is often called boba), and served with an oversized straw so you can slurp up a pearl or two with each sip. Made from tapioca starch extracted from cassava root, these marble-sized pearls traditionally are boiled and caramelized in brown sugar syrup, giving them their dark color and sweet flavor. (Just take care not to swallow the pearls whole;…

WELLNESS FROM THEHEALTHY.COM AMERICA IS SERIOUSLY stressed out. According to The American Institute of Stress, even before the pandemic 94 percent of workers said that they regularly felt stressed. And more recently, the American Psychological Association reported that the country’s collective stress had reached alarming levels. We all get busy sometimes, but feeling constantly and chronically swamped, worried, and overwhelmed can lead to burnout, which can have serious consequences. Think of burnout as stress taken to another level. “Typically, burnout is defined as an extreme state of psychological strain,” says YoungAh Park, an associate professor at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois. It’s a response to facing prolonged, chronic stressors that go beyond your ability or available resources to overcome. Because so many of…

MIND OVER MIGRAINE A German study of migraine sufferers found that weekly sessions of mindfulnessbased cognitive therapy reduced the frequency of their headaches by 40 percent. This may be due to the therapy’s psychological benefits—decreased stress, anxiety, rumination, and catastrophizing—which remove potential migraine triggers. Why It’s OK to Forget Sometimes Forgetting things can be frustrating or even worrying, but it might actually be good for our brains. Based on pre-clinical trials, researchers at Trinity College Dublin and the University of Toronto propose that forgetting is something the brain does to prune clutter. On the flip side, their research suggests that buried memories could be brought back, even in people with amnesia. If further study supports these findings, more serious memory loss could be treated. Also, a new German study shows…

“If the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.”—Doug Larson, journalist AS ANYONE WHO’S sat through English 101 can tell you, our national language is baffling. And yet, somehow, the average American has managed to learn 42,000 words. Granted, many are of the a, the, and but variety. Still, few of us know how the words we utter were derived or what they really mean. What follows is a hodgepodge (there’s a good word!) of fun facts about the language that gave us Shakespeare, Hemingway, Angelou, and those dolts on Twitter. THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD Did you know that the word muscle comes from the Latin musculus, which means “little mouse”? Apparently, the ancient Romans thought that the movement of…

“I Never Thought of It That Way” My four siblings and I are a microcosm of the country, representing liberals, conservatives, atheists, and Christians—just like the family described as having a blowout on Thanksgiving (June). Our mother’s solution to our arguing is that we’re not allowed to talk about politics or religion or play Trivial Pursuit. That rule has kept the peace for 25 years. —SUZANNE HUTCHINSON Ozawkie, Kansas For Sale: My Catalog of Dad Jokes I both laughed and cried at Gary Rudoren’s story about having no use for his dad joke collection now that his son has outgrown them (June). I saved mine, too, when my kids got too old. It was a great decision because I now have three grandkids who are young enough to laugh hysterically…

IT WAS THE day before Thanksgiving and Kaleb Benham was puttering around outside his home in Northern California. His 90-pound pit bull, Buddy, was romping around nearby, doing what dogs do: getting into trouble. Only this time, Buddy was getting into a whole lot of trouble. The unmistakable sound that no one wants to hear alone in the woods caught Benham’s attention. It was the deep, guttural, otherworldly roar of a black bear. Benham wheeled around to see the beast, which Benham figures weighed around 350 pounds, some 100 feet away. In an instant, the bear latched on to Buddy’s head and started dragging him away. Benham, a lean, fit 24-year-old, took off after them. “Honestly,” he told CBS13 in Sacramento, “the only thing I could think of was ‘save…

FOR MORE THAN two years, Dulcie Shoener of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has done daily German lessons on her smartphone. To some, that might sound like selfimposed homework, but Shoener, a language lover and the copy chief for Reader’s Digest and other publications, doesn’t see it that way. “I enjoy it so much,” she says. “It’s a delight to be able to read a short story in German.” To be able to read, write, or carry on a conversation in another language is a feat few Americans attempt, let alone achieve. Just 7 percent of our university students study a language other than English, and less than 1 percent of American adults are proficient in a foreign language they studied in school. Of her college German, Shoener says, “I remembered very little.”…

1 THIS LITTLE magazine just celebrated a big birthday: Our February issue marked a century of circulation. We want to fete our fellow centenarians, such as the Newbery Medal, which honors outstanding children’s literature. The first winner: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon. 2 IF YOU happen to drive a Jaguar with Belle Tires and insure your car with State Farm, then your road trips are sponsored by 100-year-old companies. The United Services Automobile Association, or USAA, which serves those in the military community, was also founded in 1922. The original members were 25 Army officers who all insured one another’s vehicles. 3 A CENTURY ago, the New York City radio station WEAF aired the first-ever radio commercial, a whopping 15-minute-long real estate ad for available properties…

As someone living with fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis, I often struggle to fall asleep. Nighttime stretches and white noise machines rarely helped, so I decided to try some sleep apps. The one that worked best was Aura. It offers bedtime stories, soothing sounds, meditations, insights from psychologists, even hypnosis—not just for sleep but for well-being all day long. It also has personalized suggestions based on information I shared, such as how long it takes me to drift off. By the end of the weeklong free trial, I was falling asleep peacefully, which made the $60 annual fee seem worth the investment.…

MICHAEL WHARRAD HELD the envelope in his hands, certain of what the paper inside would tell him. A decade earlier, he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. For a year, the former investment banker had participated in a drug trial at London’s National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Researchers were testing whether a medication approved to treat Type 2 diabetes could also treat Parkinson’s symptoms. Every day, Wharrad had received a dose of either the drug or a placebo, but he never knew which. THE BRAIN-BODY RESPONSE CONTROLS THE PLACEBO EFFECT. During the trial, Wharrad thrived. His joints ached less, and he could get up from a chair more easily and take walks around the block. He also noticed that his memory seemed stronger. Friends and family commented on his obvious…

1. recurrent adj. (rih-’kur-ent) A trendy B worthless C on-and-off 2. proprietor n. (pruh-’pry-uh-ter) A owner B offspring C headmaster 3. derriere n. (dair-ee-’air) A small pistol B backside C second home 4. corroborate v. (kuh-’rah-buh-rayt) A band together B support with evidence C steal from 5. terrarium n. (tuh-’rair-ee-um) A solid ground B haunted house C glass enclosure 6. arbitrary adj. (‘ar-buh-trair-ee) A based on whim B contested C lined with trees 7. barnstormer n. (‘barn-stor-mer) A red-tailed hawk B armored tank C traveling performer 8. orrery n. (‘or-er-ee) A chicken coop B solar system model C fuel gauge 9. arrears n. (uh-’reerz) A window blinds B unpaid debts C suspicions 10. preternatural adj. (pre-ter-’na-chuh-ruhl) A exceptional B active at night C historical 11. gerrymander v. (‘jair-ee-man-der) A build for emergency use B joke around C finagle voting districts 12.…

TUNE IN TO a University of Iowa football game at the end of the first quarter and you’ll see players, coaches, and fans (Hawkeyes and their opponents!) united in one goal: to cheer on the patients at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital. All 69,250 people in attendance turn and wave in the direction of the hospital, where kids, their families, and staffers gather at the big windows overlooking Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. “It’s one of the reasons I go to the game,” says junior Olivia Hasselmann. Her friend, senior Rubye Ney, agrees. “It kind of forces you to stop and think about things more important than football.”…

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES WHEN GWENYTH TODEBUSH told her five-year-old son, Clark, that she was feeling anxious about a meeting, he knew he could help. “Mama, I am nervous all the time,” he said. “I know what to do.” What followed was a stream of uplifting advice through a five-year-old’s filter. Gwenyth posted their exchange on Twitter, and it went viral. “Everybody is kind of coping with one kind of stress or another in a pandemic,” says Gwenyth, who lives in northern Michigan. “I think it rang true with people. I said on Twitter that he’s the only life coach I know that gets paid in goldfish crackers.” Here is Clark’s advice, followed by brief explanations from his mother: “You gotta say your affirmations in your mouth and your…

I asked a new trainee when he needed to hand in his paperwork. Trainee: The training manager said any time after a thousand. Me: A thousand? A thousand what? A thousand clicks? A thousand minutes? Trainee: That’s all her message said. See? (shows me the message, which does indeed say “After 1000.”) Me: OK, that’s ten-hundred, as in, 10 a.m. —NOTALWAYSRIGHT.COM I was in the chow line staring at a measly, lonely potato on my plate. “Is that all I get?” I asked the cook. Taking pity, he asked, “Would you like two?” “Yes, please.” “Sure thing.” He reached over with his spatula and cut my potato in half. “There, now you have two.” —KENNETH FRAGMIN Mount Clare, West Virginia Military personnel are an optimistic bunch. During an ROTC class…

School administrators frown upon bus drivers’ letting our students off before 8:15 a.m. But one day, at a little after 8, it began to rain, and a concerned driver announced over her radio, “I’m letting my kids off now so they go into school dry.” A fellow driver agreed. “Good idea. They smell even worse when they’re wet.” —JOHN PICKERL Wheaton, Illinois I opened an envelope from one of our customers regarding an accidental life insurance policy on her spouse. The request was simple and to the point. Handwritten boldly across the invoice in red ink, it read: “Please cancel this policy. My husband is dead, and it was no accident.” —KATHLEEN JOHNSON SIMMONS Omaha, Nebraska Vacation’s over, back to work! ✦ After taking a week of vacation, I like…

Spend 30 minutes a day doing something to help you become the person you secretly would love to be, to do the job you would secretly love to do. There are people who are doing it, and it was impossible for them at one time too.—Tomi Adeyemi, NOVELIST, IN TEEN VOGUE Decide what is yours to hold and let the rest go. Oftentimes, the good things in your life are lighter anyway.—Taylor Swift, MUSICIAN, TO GRADUATES OF NEW YORK UNIVERSITY My secrets to a happy marriage: Listen to each other, touch feet in bed even if you’re mad, and never, ever ski together.—Ree Drummond, FOOD PERSONALITY, ON INSTAGRAM I can outeat any workout.—Angela Bassett, ACTOR, IN INSTYLE Intelligence is nothing if it’s not accompanied with kindness.—Christian Louboutin, DESIGNER, IN VANITY…

Good, Clean, Family-Friendly Humor You’ve heard that an apple a day can keep the doctor away, but we like to think that a chuckle every day can do the same. That’s why we’re writing you a prescription for Laughter, the Best Medicine 2022, an all-new collection of our all-time funniest jokes, quotes, quips, stories, cartoons, and columns. Our editors mined 100 years of archives and packed more than 450 of these gems into this compilation, which can be yours for just $10. (We’ll spot you the shipping.) Order at rd.com/RDSEP.…