late into the night还是long into the night

问题描述

‍下面是2014高考英语浙江卷的第2题：
The paper is due next month, and I am working seven days ________ week, often long into ________ night.
A. a; the   B. the; 不填   C. a; a   D. 不填；the
答案为A。我对句中long into the night不太理解，它的意思我知道，是表‍示“深夜”，但表示“深夜”不‍是用 late into the night 吗？我查了好几本词典，都没有查到 long into the night这一个搭配。‍

老师答疑

陈老师：

‍▲late into the night 和 long into the night 都可以说，意思大致相同，均表示“深夜”，比如《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》(第四版)的 into 词条就有这样一句：

He carried on working long into the night. 他一直工作到深夜。

▲表示“深夜”，除long into the night外，还有以下相关表达：

1. deep into the night

They danced deep into the night. 他们跳舞直到深夜。

They sat and talked deep into the night.  他们坐着一直谈到深夜。

2. far into the night

He went on studying far into the night.  他继续学习至深夜。

My brother is really hard-working. He often works in his office far into the night. 我哥哥确实很勤勉。他经常在办公室里工作到深夜。(2008年高考英语天津卷)

3. late into the night

Security forces remained on patrol until late into the night.  保安部队继续巡逻至深夜。

If I can help it, I don’t like working late into the night. 如果我有办法的话，我可不喜欢工作到深夜。(2006年高考英语全国卷I)

4. well into the night

He works from dawn to dusk, and often well into the night.  他从早到晚地工作，经常工作到深夜。‍

‍

李老师：

‍牛津高阶英汉双解词典》(第四版)P786 into 词条确实有这样一句：

He carried on working long into the night. 他一直工作到深夜。

《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》(第7版)P1072 却改为：She carried on working late into the night. 他一直工作到深夜。

BNC上有18例包含 “long into the night” 的句子；COCA有62例包含 “long into the night” 的句子。‍