参考答案

【正确答案：D】

根据题目中的study from the Australia and US可以定位到第三段第一句话Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not.。这句话明确说了有间隔年的学生比没有的要好，好在准备和表现上。所以A：unrealistic和B：choosing career不对。

第二句在表现好的更细致地方面进行了描述：preparing them for independence独立性, new responsibilities责任感 and environmental changes环境变化。紧随的破折号后总结说了这是 first-year students一年级学生 often struggle with the most常常有苦恼的。说明最受益的是大学一年级学生，而整段都没提过financial burdens，所以C不对。而D中的pressure是对前面内容的概括性描述，因此答案是D。