One Crater, Two Colors

From high in the sky, Polly looked down into one huge crater. It was more than twenty-two thousand years old and big enough to hold a small town and two lakes. A strip of land crossed the middle. On each side, the water was a different color: one lake blue, one lake green.

Kutoka juu angani, Polly alitazama chini ndani ya kreta moja kubwa. Ilikuwa na zaidi ya miaka elfu ishirini na mbili na kubwa vya kutosha kubeba mji mdogo na maziwa mawili. Ukanda wa ardhi ulivuka katikati. Kila upande, maji yalikuwa na rangi tofauti: ziwa moja buluu, lingine kijani.

The two lakes are really one piece of water, joined by a channel under the land. But everything around them looks different. The blue lake is deeper and reflects the sky. The green lake sits near plants and tiny algae, which turn its color green.

Maziwa hayo mawili kwa kweli ni maji yale yale, yakiunganishwa na mfereji chini ya ardhi. Lakini kila kitu kinachoyazunguka kinaonekana tofauti. Ziwa la buluu lina kina zaidi na huakisi anga. Ziwa la kijani lipo karibu na mimea na mwani mdogo, ambavyo hufanya rangi yake kuwa ya kijani.

Polly flew low along the strip of land between the colors. She saw fishing boats on one side and cows on the hills above the other. Thick fog rolled in and covered first the green lake, then the blue one.

Polly aliruka chini kando ya ukanda wa ardhi kati ya rangi hizo. Aliona mashua za wavuvi upande mmoja na ng'ombe kwenye vilima upande mwingine. Ukungu mzito uliingia na kufunika kwanza ziwa la kijani, kisha lile la buluu.

She sat on an old stone wall and waited for the fog to clear. When it did, both lakes were still there, blue and green, just as before.

Alikaa juu ya ukuta wa zamani wa mawe na akasubiri ukungu uondoke. Ulipoondoka, maziwa yote mawili yalikuwa bado pale, buluu na kijani, kama mwanzo.