You enter through a round entrance known as a moon gate. There before you, is a (cover )passage made of red wood, leading you past a walled courtyard. Along the edges of the courtyard are piles of rocks, among which (grow) bamboo. The whole scene is like a painting; every step you take, another part of the painting is unrolled.
(step) into the courtyard, you look over the scene. Latticed(格状) windows in the walls reveal yet more bamboo, suggesting that the courtyard is just one part of a (large)garden. At the far end of the courtyard is a room with wooden chairs, windows that create frames for the scene of (strange)shaped rocks beyond them, just like Chinese ink-wash paintings. This little courtyard is picture of the classic Chinese concept of peace and beauty. Yet, you are not in China, but a copy of Chinese garden. The Astor Chinese Garden Court (create)by a team of 26 Chinese craftsmen in 1981, and it represented the first permanent cultural exchange between America and China. The courtyard is a place of rest for a museum (visit). As a museum piece in and of itself, the garden gives a wonderful view of ancient China.
