TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a question, along with a context passage. The passage will not have a direct answer to the question, but can include some information and a clue for the answer. Assuming you can only obtain information about one entity in the passage, your job is to determine whether information from the passage can be used to answer the question. Indicate your choice as `a` for Yes or `b` for No.
PROBLEM: Question: In what year did Ostashenko's country join the first world war? Passage:Ostashenko was born on 19 June 1896 in the village of Bolshaya Lyubshchina, Yanovichskoy volost, Vitebsky Uyezd, Vitebsk Governorate to a peasant family. He graduated from four grades at a gymnasium. During World War I, he was mobilized for military service on 7 August 1915, being sent to the 4th Company of the Reserve Battalion of the Petrograd Lifeguard Regiment in Petrograd. With the battalion, he fought with the Southwestern Front between July 1916 and February 1917, then returned to Petrograd before being demobilized on 13 March 1918. In July, he volunteered for the Red Army, serving in the Vitebsky Uyezd military commissariat as a clerk and instructor organizer. From May 1919 Ostashenko served as a Red Army man and political soldier – a Communist mobilized to conduct political work in the army – in the march battalion of the Vitebsk Reserve Regiment. From July he served as an assistant platoon commander in the 84th Rifle Regiment of the 10th Rifle Division, which fought against the Northwestern Army near Petrograd as part of the 15th Army of the Western Front. He entered the Smolensk Commanders' Infantry Courses in November and upon graduation in June 1920 became a platoon commander in the Rzhev-based 2nd Reserve Regiment. This assignment proved to be brief and a month later, Ostashenko became adjutant of the 4th Landing Detachment for armored trains with the Western Front. He fought with the detachment, which provided landing parties for armored trains, in the Polish–Soviet War and was wounded twice.


SOLUTION: a

PROBLEM: Question: Which team did the New Orleans Saints beat in the 2006 NFC playoffs? Passage:The Buccaneers played their home opener against the 2006 NFC South champion New Orleans Saints. After scoring only 6 points the week before, the Buccaneers dominated the Saints, on offense and defense, at one point taking a 28–0 lead. Early in the first quarter, Barrett Ruud recovered a Deuce McAllister fumble, which set up a Tampa Bay scoring drive. Carnell Williams, who was back in the lineup after injuring his ribs the week before, capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Early in the second quarter, Joey Galloway scored on a 69-yard catch and run from quarterback Jeff Garcia. Inside the two-minute warning, Garcia and Galloway scored again, this time with a 24-yard touchdown, to take a 21–0 halftime lead. Halfway through the third quarter, Cato June intercepted a pass from Drew Brees. Two plays later, Garcia and Galloway connected for yet another big play, a 41-yard completion to the New Orleans 9-yard line. Williams capped off the drive with his second 1-yard touchdown. New Orleans' first score came with a 1-yard touchdown run by Mike Karney, aided by a 58-yard catch by Phillip Buchanon moments earlier. The Buccaneers improved to 1–1, into a tie for the NFC South lead. New Orleans fell to 0–2.


SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: How many years did the re-elected government exist before being replaced in 1990? Passage:At the 1989 election, Buchanan successfully transferred to the newly recreated seat of Ashburton, with her replacement in Pilbara, Larry Graham, retaining that seat for Labor. The re-elected Dowding government persisted only until February 1990, when it was replaced by the Lawrence government following Dowding's forced resignation. New premier Carmen Lawrence elevated Buchanan to the ministry as Minister for Works and Services and Minister for Regional Development. She was also made assistant minister to Lawrence in her capacity as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. However, the regional development portfolio was abolished in December 1990, and Buchanan lost her remaining portfolios in February 1991, as part of a ministerial reshuffle prompted by an internal spill motion. Jeff Carr and Gavan Troy were also removed as ministers, with Carr consequently resigning from parliament. Buchanan herself resigned to sit as an independent on 1 February 1991, before the new ministry was sworn in four days later. She consequently became the first woman in the Parliament of Western Australia to sit as an independent. Buchanan resigned due to ill health just over a year later, in March 1992, and died at the end of that month, aged 55. She had married George Maitland Buchanan in April 1957, with whom she had two daughters. Her resignation prompted a by-election in Ashburton, which was won by the Labor candidate Fred Riebeling.


SOLUTION:
b