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: Something that is elastic can return to its original shape after being stretched or compressed. This property is called elasticity . As you stretch or compress an elastic material like a bungee cord, it resists the change in shape. It exerts a counter force in the opposite direction. This force is called elastic force . The farther the material is stretched or compressed, the greater the elastic force becomes. As soon as the stretching or compressing force is released, elastic force causes the material to spring back to its original shape. You can watch a demonstration of elastic force at this URL:. 
Story: Andy is playing with a rubber band. He stretches the rubber band out as far as he can without breaking it. 
Question: Will the amount of force required to stretch the rubber band increase or decrease as he stretched it further?

SOLUTION: increase.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Air pollution is harmful to human beings and other living things. About 22 million people die from air pollution each year. Breathing polluted air increases the risk of developing lung diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. Breathing bad air also increases the chances of dying from other diseases. Children are most likely to be affected by air pollution. That’s because their lungs are still developing and growing. Children also take in more air for their size than adults do. Some air pollutants damage the environment as well as the health of living things. The type of damage depends on the pollutant. Air pollution can also harm the environment. 
Story: Two sister cities were part of an air pollution study. While Prague had big air pollution problems, Belfast was eco-friendly and its inhabitants were healthy. 
Question: Which city had fewer people with an increased chance of developing lung disease?

SOLUTION: Belfast.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Turner et al (2006) derived crash prediction models for this report’s predecessor and found a
pronounced ‘safety in numbers’ effect in the models. Using the crash prediction model for mid-block
locations, generic motorist and cyclist volumes can be used to demonstrate the impacts on the
expected crash rate of varying motor vehicle and cycle volumes. As shown in figure 2.20, an increase
in the proportion of cyclists to the overall traffic volume causes an increase in expected crashes at
mid-block locations, but the crash rate increases at a decreasing rate. That is to say, the crash rate per
cyclist goes down as the cycle volume increases. 
Story: There were a lot of motorcycles on Interstate 16 last week. On Sunday, there were 1255 motorcyclists. On Monday, there were 2255 motorcyclists. On Tuesday, there were 3251 motorcyclists. On Wednesday, there were 4251 motorcyclists. On Thursday, there were 5251 motorcyclists. On Friday, there were 6251 motorcyclists. On Saturday, there were 7251 motorcyclists. 
Question: What day had a lower crash rate per cyclist: Monday or Friday?

SOLUTION:
Friday.