About the book關於這本書

The Outsiders (1967) by S. E. Hinton tells the story of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis and his gang of greasers, poor teenagers from the East Side of a town in Oklahoma, and their conflict with the Socs, the rich kids from the West Side. It is one of the first novels written for and about teenagers, and it remains one of the most widely read books in American schools.《The Outsiders》（1967，中譯《小教父》或《邊緣小子》）是 S. E. 辛頓的作品，講述十四歲的小馬·柯蒂斯和他的油頭幫夥伴，也就是奧克拉荷馬州某個小鎮東區的貧窮青少年，和西區有錢孩子「社會幫」之間的衝突。這是最早專為青少年、也以青少年為主角的小說之一，至今仍是美國學校最常讀的書之一。

Structure: twelve chapters, told by Ponyboy in the first person. These notes cover one chapter per lesson, grouped into four parts.結構：全書十二章，由小馬以第一人稱敘述。這份筆記一章一課，分成四部分。

The novel includes gang violence, a death in self-defense, a fire, teenagers smoking and drinking, neglectful parents, and the deaths of main characters. These are part of the story's message about the cost of violence.這本小說包含幫派暴力、自衛殺人、火災、青少年抽菸喝酒、疏於照顧的父母，以及主要角色的死亡。這些都是故事要傳達「暴力的代價」的一部分。

Susan Eloise Hinton was born in 1948 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She began writing The Outsiders at about fifteen, inspired by the conflicts between groups at her own high school. She published under her initials so readers would not judge the book by the author's gender.蘇珊·艾洛伊絲·辛頓 1948 年生於奧克拉荷馬州土爾沙。她大約十五歲時開始寫《The Outsiders》，靈感來自她自己高中裡不同團體之間的衝突。她用名字縮寫出版，讓讀者不會因為作者的性別而評判這本書。

Hinton also wrote That Was Then, This Is Now, Rumble Fish, and Tex, all about teenagers in Oklahoma. The Outsiders was made into a film in 1983.辛頓還寫了《That Was Then, This Is Now》、《Rumble Fish》和《Tex》，都是關於奧克拉荷馬州青少年的故事。《The Outsiders》在 1983 年被拍成電影。