a stepping stone

基本解释

To offer her my head as a stepping-stone
把頭顱獻給她做腳踏石；
As when youths leave home for college, the Moon can become a schooling place, a stepping-stone to the boundless horizons of human destiny.
正如大學是年輕人求知的必由之路一樣，對於整個人類而言，月球也將會成爲一個開濶眼界增長知識的新的場所，它是人類通往嶄新天地的漫漫長路中一塊踏腳石。
Walmart plans to use Massmart, which has stores in 14 African countries, as a stepping-stone into a fast-emerging continent.
邁斯瑪在14個非洲國家擁有分店，沃爾瑪計劃利用邁斯瑪挺進這個快速崛起的大陸。

The defence ministry is a parking place for weak ministers or a stepping-stone for strong ones.
ECONOMIST: The war in Afghanistan
Jacobs thinks most companies will use PORTAL as a stepping-stone to the public markets, not a substitute for them.
NPR: Turbulent Mortgage Market Ensnares Top Retailers
After all, the government is publicly committed to full-blooded reform, towards which the expulsion of the hereditaries is just a stepping-stone.
ECONOMIST: The end of the peer show