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 need to come up with a question about the story that requires an understanding of the relationship described in the background paragraph. The generated question should not be answerable without both the background and story. Write a question about the story that requires a relationship in the background paragraph to answer. Check whether your question requires both the background paragraph and the story to answer. If your question can be answered by only one of these, try to rewrite your question so that it requires both. Note that "flipping" a word in the question can give rise to a new question where the answer will be different from the original question. Often, "flipping" a word gives rise to flipping the direction of the relationship, for example, from "increase" to "decrease."
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Machines make work easier by increasing the amount of force that is applied, increasing the distance over which the force is applied, or changing the direction in which the force is applied. Contrary to popular belief, machines do not increase the amount of work that is done. They just change how the work is done. So if a machine increases the force applied, it must apply the force over a shorter distance. Similarly, if a machine increases the distance over which the force is applied, it must apply less force. 
Story: John wanted to invent a machine. To that end, he devised an experiment in which he used three components, comp A, comp B, and comp C. Comp A was a machine that applied force over a shorter distance. Comp B was also a machine, but it applied force over a longer distance. Comp C was not a machine.

SOLUTION: Which component would increase the force applied, comp A or comp B?

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Fish reproduce sexually. They lay eggs that can be fertilized either inside or outside of the body. In most fish, the eggs develop outside of the mother's body. In the majority of these species, fertilization also takes place outside the mother's body. The male and female fish release their gametes into the surrounding water, where fertilization occurs. Female fish release very high numbers of eggs to increase the chances of fertilization. 
Story: Two students read about reproduction for biology class. Vic read more about reptile reproduction, while Fox read more about fish reproduction.

SOLUTION: Which student didn't learn that fish lay eggs that can be fertilized either inside or outside of the body?

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: No doubt you already have a good idea of what temperature is. You might say that it’s how warm or cool something feels. In physics, temperature is defined as the average kinetic energy of the particles of matter. When particles of matter move more quickly, they have more kinetic energy, so their temperature is higher. With a higher temperature, matter feels warmer. When particles move more slowly, they have less kinetic energy on average, so their temperature is lower. With a lower temperature, matter feels cooler. 
Story: Two physicists studied the influence of kinetic energy on the environment. Will studied high temperature environments, while his pal Don studied cooler environments.

SOLUTION:
Which person didn't observe that particles with less kinetic energy feel colder?