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: Old age begins in the mid-60s and lasts until the end of life. Many people over 65 have retired from work, freeing up their time for hobbies, grandchildren, and other interests. Stamina, strength, reflex time, and the senses all decline during old age, and the number of brain cells decreases as well. The immune system becomes less efficient, increasing the risk of serious illnesses such as cancer and pneumonia. Diseases such as Alzheimer's disease that cause loss of mental function also become more common.
Story: Mark has just graduated high school and is going to visit his grandpa, Tom, over the summer for a couple days. Since Tom is retired, he often has plenty of time to go fishing, and he even has a small cabin by the lake. The two men are planning to spend several days at the cabin cooking, fishing, chopping firewood to make fires and just general outdoor activities.

SOLUTION: Does Mark have more or less stamina than Tom?

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: Motorcycle fest lasted a week in the city. On Monday, there were 500 motorcycles on the road. On Tuesday, there were 600 motorcycles on the road. On Wednesday, there were 700 motorcycles on the road. On Thursday, there were 800 motorcycles on the road. On Friday, there were 900 motorcycles on the road. On Saturday, there were 1000 motorcycles on the road. On Sunday, there were 1100 motorcycles on the road. The festival generated a lot of revenue for the city.

SOLUTION: What day was the crash rate per cyclist lower: Friday or Sunday?

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Although some lipids in the diet are essential, excess dietary lipids can be harmful. Because lipids are very high in energy, eating too many may lead to unhealthy weight gain. A high-fat diet may also increase lipid levels in the blood. This, in turn, can increase the risk for health problems such as cardiovascular disease. The dietary lipids of most concern are saturated fatty acids, trans fats, and cholesterol. For example, cholesterol is the lipid mainly responsible for narrowing arteries and causing the disease atherosclerosis.
Story: Jesse wants to lose weight. She decides to do research on the types of food she's been eating and finds out they are excessively high in dietary lipids. She decides to cut back to a lower than normal amount of lipid consumption for a while.

SOLUTION:
Given that Jesse were to continue her original eating habits, will her chances for getting atherosclerosis increase or decrease?