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: 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 less damage caused by storm surge?

SOLUTION: Hill.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: The particles of soup have greater average kinetic energy than the particles of water in the tub, explaining why the soup has a higher temperature. However, the mass of the water in the tub is much greater than the mass of the soup in the pot. This means that there are many more particles of water than soup. All those moving particles give the water in the tub greater total kinetic energy, even though their average kinetic energy is less. Therefore, the water in the tub has greater thermal energy than the soup. To compare the thermal energy of some other materials, go to the following URL and click on the interactive animation “Temperature and Thermal Energy.”. 
Story: Alexander is conducting reactions in his college chemistry class. In his first reaction, reaction A, he uses a large amount of reactants. In his second reaction, reaction B, he uses a much smaller amount of reactants compared to reaction A. As the reactions are proceeding, he measures that reactants in reaction A have low average kinetic energy. At the same time, reactants in reaction B have high average kinetic energy. 
Question: Reactants in which reaction have smaller total thermal energy?

SOLUTION: reaction B.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Ocean acidification occurs when excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the oceans to become acidic. Burning fossil fuels has led to an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide is then absorbed by the oceans, which lowers the pH of the water. Ocean acidification can kill corals and shellfish. It may also cause marine organisms to reproduce less, which could harm other organisms in the food chain. As a result, there also may be fewer marine organisms for humans to consume. 
Story: Many years ago there was a beach Called Coast Brigs where many coral and other life lived. A refinery that burned coal was built nearby and over time the water nearby became very acidic. The coral and marine life died because of this but a few miles north on another beach named Greendale the same creatures are surviving just fine. 
Question: Will building a refinery at Greendale cause the acidity of the water to increase or decrease?

SOLUTION:
increase.