a stepping stone

基本解释

To offer her my head as a stepping-stone
把头颅献给她做脚踏石；
As when youths leave home for college, the Moon can become a schooling place, a stepping-stone to the boundless horizons of human destiny.
正如大学是年轻人求知的必由之路一样，对于整个人类而言，月球也将会成为一个开阔眼界增长知识的新的场所，它是人类通往崭新天地的漫漫长路中一块踏脚石。
Walmart plans to use Massmart, which has stores in 14 African countries, as a stepping-stone into a fast-emerging continent.
迈斯玛在14个非洲国家拥有分店，沃尔玛计划利用迈斯玛挺进这个快速崛起的大陆。

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