 You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or physical relationships, such as a relationship in economics, scientific law, or nature. You need to come up with a fictional story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. Make sure that your story does not repeat the relation in the given paragraph (e.g., by avoiding verbatim copies of the given paragraph). Start by reading the background paragraph, and determine what relationship(s) are in the paragraph. Write a story that involves the relationship(s) that you determined are in the background paragraph. Try to use your own words as much as possible and not repeat the background paragraph. Feel free to make up places and events as long as they tie back to the background paragraph in a way that you can ask a question about.
One example is below.
Q: Background Paragraph: A rise in price of a good or service almost always decreases the quantity demanded of that good or service. Conversely, a fall in price will increase the quantity demanded. When the price of a gallon of gasoline increases, for example, people look for ways to reduce their consumption by combining several errands, commuting by carpool or mass transit, or taking weekend or vacation trips closer to home. Economists call this inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded the law of demand. The law of demand assumes that all other variables that affect demand (which we explain in the next module) are held constant.
A: The AAA auto club does a weekly report on the prices of gas and diesel in various cities. Historically, the prices have be fairly stagnant, but this week their report garnered widespread attention as the prices of gas and diesel plunged from last week in Seattle by $0.40 each. However, just across the border in Vancouver, the cost of gas went up dramatically by $0.50.
Rationale: This is a good story as it incorporates various relations (e.g., "price of a good or service vs demand") present in the background paragraph.
Q: Background Paragraph: We discussed earlier some basic principles about the behavior of gases called the kinetic-molecular theory. Among other things, this theory suggests that gas molecules are in constant motion, and the average speed of the individual gas particles is dependent upon temperature – the higher the temperature, the faster the molecules move. It is not just gas particles that are in constant motion. The molecules and ions that make up liquids and solutions are also continually moving in nearly random directions. As a result, molecules and ions in a solution will collide with one another fairly frequently. As with gases, a temperature increase will produce an increase in the average particle speed.
A:
A new volcano is growing underwater. Every few days it has minor lava flow eruptions off the coast of Hawaii. People have actually enjoyed swimming in the water above this newly forming volcano because it is very soothing and relaxing.