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: Before iodized salt was developed, some people experienced a number of developmental difficulties, including problems with thyroid gland function and mental retardation. In the 1920s, we learned that these conditions could usually be treated easily with the addition of iodide anion to the diet. One easy way to increase iodide intake was to add the anion to table salt. This simple step greatly enhanced health and development. Large amounts of iodide ion are also found in seaweed such as kelp (see picture above) and saltwater fish.
Story: People from two villages ate lots of salt. People from Salt village used regular salt, while people from Sand village people used iodized salt in their diets, after talking to specialists.
Question: Which village had fewer people experience developmental difficulties?

SOLUTION: Sand.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Almost all earthquakes occur at plate boundaries. All types of plate boundaries have earthquakes. Convection within the Earth causes the plates to move. As the plates move, stresses build. When the stresses build too much, the rocks break. The break releases the energy that was stored in the rocks. The sudden release of energy is an earthquake. During an earthquake the rocks usually move several centimeters. Rarely, they may move as much as a few meters. Elastic rebound theory describes how earthquakes occur ( Figure below ).
Story: Tim the seismologist studied data from two cities: Tokyo and Kansas City. Tokyo experienced many more earthquakes than Kansas City.
Question: Which city experiences more energy release because of rocks breaking?

SOLUTION: Tokyo.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Cholesterol has been implicated in heart disease for decades. Atherosclerosis is a disorder of the arteries in which cholesterol and other materials are deposited on the interior of the arterial wall. These deposits lead to the formation of plaques that can restrict or even block the flow of blood through these blood vessels (see Figure below ). A decrease in the flow of blood can lead to high blood pressure and a lowered oxygen supply to the heart muscle. A complete blockage of blood flow to parts of the heart (a heart attack) can cause significant damage due to oxygen deprivation, in some cases leading to death.
Story: Two brothers went to the doctor's office for an appointment. The doctor discovered that Tim had very high levels of cholesterol, while Jim had normal levels.
Question: Which brother had more cholesterol deposited on the interior of the arterial wall?

SOLUTION:
Tim.