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: A wood-decay fungus is any species of fungus that digests moist wood, causing it to rot. Some species of wood-decay fungi attack dead wood, such as brown rot, and some, such as Armillaria (honey fungus), are parasitic and colonize living trees. Excessive moisture above the fibre saturation point in wood is required for fungal colonization and proliferation.[1] Fungi that not only grow on wood but permeate its fibrous structure and actually cause decay, are called lignicolous fungi. In nature, this process causes the breakdown of complex molecules and leads to the return of nutrients to the soil.[2] Various lignicolous fungi consume wood in various ways; for example, some attack the carbohydrates in wood and some others decay lignin. The rate of decay of wooden materials in various climates can be estimated by empirical models.[3].
Story: Bob is a botanist. His interest is in different kinds of fungi. He went to Brazil last month to study fungi in
the Amazon rain forest. First day he searched for fungi in a location with excessive moisture. Second day he searched for fungi in a location with no moisture. In all his search he found two specimens of fungi. Specimen A is a brown rot fungus, and specimen B is a honey fungus.
Question: Would specimen A fungus live on dead woods or not live on dead woods?

SOLUTION: live on dead woods.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Alkali, or Alkaline, soils are clay soils with high pH (> 8.5), a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Often they have a hard calcareous layer at 0.5 to 1 metre depth. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico-chemical properties mainly to the dominating presence of sodium carbonate, which causes the soil to swell[1] and difficult to clarify/settle. They derive their name from the alkali metal group of elements, to which sodium belongs, and which can induce basicity. Sometimes these soils are also referred to as alkaline sodic soils.
Alkaline soils are basic, but not all basic soils are alkaline.
Story: Two brothers have a piece of land each, situated 2 miles from each other. Jim's land is not very fertile because it has clay soil with a high pH, while Bob's land has very fertile soil and has a good productivity on it.
Question: Which of the two pieces of land has a high pH?

SOLUTION: Jim's.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Similar to the results of a negatively charged rod, if a positively charged rod is brought near the knob of a neutral electroscope, it will attract some electrons up from the leaves onto the knob. That process causes both of the leaves to be positively charged (excess protons), and the leaves will diverge. If the positively charged rob is actually touched to the knob, the rob will remove some electrons and then when the rob is removed, the electroscope will remain positively charged. This is a permanent positive charge.
Story: Jim's dad is a scientist. While his dad is out working he goes to the lab in the basement and find an electroscope. The electroscope is currently in a neutral state. He then grabs a nearby rod that is positively charged and moves it near the knob of the electroscope. Fascinated he sees the leaves of the electroscope move apart from each other.
Question: Given the rod was negatively charged when it touched the neutral electroscope, would the electroscope have a positive or negative charge?

SOLUTION:
negative.