late in the day：太晚「而无济于事」
He started working hard much too late in the day—he couldn't possibly catch up. (他努力工作到开始的太晚了，不可能赶上。) [牛津高级学者辞典]
studying
My Lifetime Interest—Studying Stars课文阅读理解专练及答案解析
解析：根据文中“When I was eight, I got a book about stars from my dad as a birthday present.”可知，Patrick Moore是在八岁时得到了一本关于星星的书，所以选B。