In the question below, two statements (

• I and (I
• I are given. These statements may be either independent causes or may be effects of independent causes or a common cause. One of these statements may be the effect of the other statement. Read both the statements and decide which of the following answer choices correctly depicts the relationship between these two statements. Statements: I. Sales of air purifiers have increased sharply in major metropolitan cities over the past week. II. Air quality levels in several major metropolitan cities have dropped to the “severe” category due to rising pollution.