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: A large log placed in a fire will burn relatively slowly. If the same mass of wood were added to the fire in the form of small twigs, they would burn much more quickly. This is because the twigs provide a greater surface area than the log does. An increase in the surface area of a reactant increases the rate of a reaction. Surface area is larger when a given amount of a solid is present as smaller particles. A powdered reactant has a greater surface area than the same reactant as a solid chunk. In order to increase the surface area of a substance, it may be ground into smaller particles or dissolved into a liquid. In solution, the dissolved particles are separated from each other and will react more quickly with other reactants. 
Story: Two groups of friends went camping , but camped separately a few hundred yards away and started a fire each. Both groups had the same volume of wood. Group P had larger logs, while group Q had small twigs, sawdust and kindlings. 
Question: Which group had wood that provided a smaller surface area for the fire to burn?

SOLUTION: Group P.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: So much rain falling so fast causes some of the damage from a hurricane. But a lot of the damage is caused by storm surge. Storm surge is very high water located in the low pressure eye of the hurricane. The very low pressure of the eye allows the water level to rise above normal sea level. Storm surge can cause flooding when it reaches land ( Figure below ). High winds do a great deal of damage in hurricanes. High winds can also create very big waves. If the large waves are atop a storm surge, the high water can flood the shore. If the storm happens to occur at high tide, the water will rise even higher. 
Story: Beach town was hit hard by the hurricane. Hill town was spared, being situated 50 miles south. the eye of the hurricane passed almost through Beach town. 
Question: Which town had more damage caused by the water level rising above normal sea level?

SOLUTION: Beach.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: A dilution effect is seen when animals living in a group "dilute" their risk of attack, each individual being just one of many in the group. George C. Williams and W.D. Hamilton proposed that group living evolved because it provides benefits to the individual rather than to the group as a whole, which becomes more conspicuous as it becomes larger. One common example is the shoaling of fish. Experiments provide direct evidence for the decrease in individual attack rate seen with group living, for example in Camargue horses in Southern France. The horse-fly often attacks these horses, sucking blood and carrying diseases. When the flies are most numerous, the horses gather in large groups, and individuals are indeed attacked less frequently. Water striders are insects that live on the surface of fresh water, and are attacked from beneath by predatory fish. Experiments varying the group size of the water striders showed that the attack rate per individual water strider decreases as group size increases. 
Story: Mike was visiting the African Savannah. One animal that interested him most was the African Buffalo. He noticed that the buffaloes would usually live in a large herd, often exceeding few hundreds. He noted that as case A. But sometimes the buffaloes would live in a small herd. He noted that as case B. Interestingly, there are incidents when an aggressive male buffalo would live by itself. He noted that as case C. 
Question: In case B, would an individual buffalo have lower or higher risk of attack than in case A?

SOLUTION:
higher.