要約問題/1987年

次の文を読み、その要旨を８０字から１００字までの日本文で書け。ただし、句読点も字数に数える。

　The best thing about a small town is the people who live in it. I say this boldly, knowing how often that element is seized upon as a subject for ridicule --- their dullness, narrow lives and interests. The point is that the charge is simply not true. There are such people and such conditions in small towns, just as there are in large cities, for the human race is plentifully supplied with all kinds; they average about the same everywhere. The inhabitants of the small town are no worse and no better than people everywhere, but in the small town you know them, as friends, neighbors, acquaintances, over a long span of years, lifetimes often, and they know you for what you are --- a sobering but an inspiring thought. In the small town you do not need to pretend; you can be yourself. This may annoy some, who will prefer the impersonality of the big city, but to a normal person there is something heartening in being an integral part of a community. Be sure of this: if you find the small town dull, the lack is in you. You no doubt bore the people.