stepping stone

音标发音

This should merely serve as a stepping stone for you to discover what works for you.
这点仅会作为一个垫脚石，帮助你找到自己的方法。
While every job will impact their career, they have to remember that a first job is a stepping stone.
虽然每一份工作都会对他们的事业产生影响，但是他们要记住第一份工作只是一块跳板。
Similar to the “stepping stone to success” trick above, but it can be used for anything, not just failure.
与上述“成功路上垫脚石”一招相似，但这招适合于所有情况，不仅是适用于失败振作上。

That budget would end funding for the Constellation program, which would have returned U.S.astronauts to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.
And one of the things we really try to use the Capstone project for is a stepping stone into what you are going to do with your application.
我们很想利用总结性课程,作为踏脚石，让学生,更顺利地展开应用。
哈佛公开课 - 幸福课课程节选
"This will serve as a catalyst to help Nigeria to be ready, to improve itself, to look at the organization, to look at the quality of the facilities,and therefore I hope this will serve as a kind of stepping stone for Nigeria to be ready,".

Or is it really a kind of pidgin, a stepping stone to a language?
FORBES: A New International Business Language: Globish

(STONE) one of a row of large, flat stones on which you can walk in order to cross a stream or river that is not deep
(STAGE) an event or experience that helps you achieve something else

You can describe a job or event as a stepping stone when it helps you to make progress, especially in your career.
Stepping stones are a line of large stones which you can walk on in order to cross a shallow stream or river.