TASK DEFINITION: You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or qualitative relationships such as a relationship in economics or a scientific law and a story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. You are also given a question about the story that requires an understanding of the relationship described in the background paragraph and the story. You need to come up with an answer to the given question; the answer will be a span from either the question or the story. In order to correctly answer the given question, you need to understand the relationship mentioned in the background paragraph and should be able to use it to understand that in the story. Your answer can not consist of any word that is not mentioned in any of these: the background paragraph, the story, or the question. You can directly copy and paste a span from the story or the question while answering the given question.
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: During May, June, and July, the Northern Hemisphere is exposed to more direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the Sun. The same is true of the Southern Hemisphere in November, December, and January. It is Earth's axial tilt that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the summer months, which increases the solar flux. However, due to seasonal lag, June, July, and August are the warmest months in the Northern Hemisphere while December, January, and February are the warmest months in the Southern Hemisphere. 
Story: Bill has a friend that lives in New Zealand and he always gets confused about the weather and the seasons when they chat, because the Southern Hemisphere has different seasons than people from the Northern Hemisphere. 
Question: Which hemisphere experiences lower temperatures in July?

SOLUTION: Southern.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Like water in the ocean, air in the atmosphere exerts pressure that increases with depth. Most gas molecules in the atmosphere are pulled close to Earth’s surface by gravity. As a result, air pressure decreases quickly at lower altitudes and then more slowly at higher altitudes. This is illustrated in Figure below . Air pressure is greatest at sea level, where the depth of the atmosphere is greatest. At higher altitudes, the pressure is less because the depth of the atmosphere is less. For example, on top of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth, air pressure is only about one-third of the pressure at sea level. At such high altitudes, low air pressure makes it hard to breathe and is dangerous to human health. 
Story: Robert and his brother Timothy are both marathon runners. As marathon running is an endurance event, a key component is being able to replenish your oxygen supply by taking frequent breaths. This week, Robert is running a marathon in Colorado, which has low air pressures. Timothy is  also running a marathon, but he is running in Florida, which has high air pressures. 
Question: Who will have less difficulty in keeping a steady supply of oxygen during their marathon?

SOLUTION: Timothy.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Candied fruit, also known as crystallized fruit or glacé fruit, has existed since the 14th century. Whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, are placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on size and type of fruit, this process of preservation can take from several days to several months.[1] This process allows the fruit to retain its quality for a year.[2]

The continual process of drenching the fruit in syrup causes the fruit to become saturated with sugar, preventing the growth of spoilage microorganisms due to the unfavourable osmotic pressure this creates.[3]. 
Story: Greg's grandma is a culinary expert. She is also  very eager to teach others how to make great foods. One day she taught Greg how to make candied fruit. Greg was so excited about it that he bought two baskets of fruits, basket A and basket B, to make some candied fruits. He used the basket A fruits to make some candied fruits, but was too lazy to use the basket B fruits. He just kept the basket B fruits on his kitchen top. 
Question: Will basket B fruits retain its quality longer or shorter than basket A fruits?

SOLUTION:
shorter.