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How is this card to understand?
You may discard this....... in order to apply the following effect...
Does it mean
If I apply the effect I can still decide to keep the card or discard?

Forewarned is forearmed must be discarded in order to gain a star during the results step of any action.

There are several effects like this one which contribute some number of symbols, that is what is meant by "the following effect." Your skill deck contains two copies of Forewarned is forearmed, two copies of Learn by doing, a Lucky star, and a Valiant hearts shall not fail -- all of these cards use this same phrasing to mean that they must be discarded to gain their bonuses.

Thanks
But shouldn’t it be written as must be discarded or has to be discarded to achieve the effect instead you may discard ?

I think "You may discard this to apply the following effect" makes it pretty clear that you have to discard it if you want to get the effect. The word "to" is critical here, and is easily overlooked.

The reason it says may instead of must is:

A lot of cards say "You may discard this during the results step of an action to apply the following effect:" If that said "You must discard this during the results step of an action to apply the following effect:" it would mean you had to use it the first results step you could, or at least, it would be interpreted to mean that. Cards that you can discard at any time to apply their effect don't really have that same confusion (one wouldn't be tempted to interpret "You must discard this to apply the following effect:" as meaning one must use the card immediately) but it is better to be consistent between cards. If they had used two different words they would be interpreted as having two different meanings, after all -- surely if some cards said "may" and others said "must" we'd all be making threads about what's the difference between may and must.

Action cards are free to look at, so they aren’t spoilers