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: Human beings invented agriculture about 10,000 years ago. This provided a bigger, more dependable food supply. It also allowed people to settle down in villages and cities for the first time. Birth rates went up because there was more food and settled life had other advantages. Death rates also rose because of crowded living conditions and diseases that spread from domestic animals. Because the higher birth rates were matched by higher death rates, the human population continued to grow very slowly. 
Story: David was studying human history. He selected two specific eras of human history, era A and era B. Era A was before humans had invented agriculture. And, era B was after the invention of agriculture. He noticed that human societies had changed dramatically after the invention of agriculture. 
Question: Did era A have higher or lower brith rate than era B?

SOLUTION: lower.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Because of human activities, there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than in the past hundreds of thousands of years. Burning fossil fuels and has released great quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Cutting forests and clearing land has also increased carbon dioxide into the atmosphere because these activities reduce the number of autotrophic organisms that use up carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. In addition, clearing often involves burning, which releases carbon dioxide that was previously stored in autotrophs. 
Story: Two cities had different energy source. Big city burned fossil fuels cut forests and cleared land, while Blue city used alternative sources of energy. 
Question: Which city cleared fewer lands?

SOLUTION: Blue.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Allergy symptoms can range from mild to severe. Mild symptoms might include itchy eyes, sneezing, and a runny nose. Severe symptoms can cause difficulty breathing, which may be life threatening. Keep in mind that it is the immune system and not the allergen that causes the allergy symptoms. Allergy symptoms can be treated with medications such as antihistamines. Severe allergic reactions may require an injection of the hormone epinephrine. These treatments lessen or counter the immune system’s response. 
Story: Two groups of  students went to the forest to explore nature and learn botany. Group D had some people experiencing mild allergy symptoms, and group C had a few folks with severe allergy symptoms, so they had to call the ambulance asap. 
Question: Which group had fewer people sneezing a lot?

SOLUTION:
group C.