a whole two hours

"A whole two hours" - good, thanks, I'll add it into my vocabulary. What about "as long as"? Is it incorrect?

AS LONG AS is grammatical, I just don't think it accurately translates the Russian sentence.

The free dictionary says it can be used to signify a long period of time: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/as+long+as

Yes, I agree, but we use it in hypothetical situations when we talk about how long something CAN last (for example the hypothetical stomach ache in the Free Dictionary). For instance: "People have been know to wait AS LONG AS two days in line for concert tickets." -or- "If you don't know a good realtor, it can take AS LONG AS two years to find a good apartment in London." In our sentence above, there's nothing hypothetical. He actually worked an entire two hours, so AS LONG AS sounds unnatural here. The thing is, that it is used in generalities. So you could say: "In my parents' day, people would work as long as six hours without a break." But you can't say "Yesterday, he worked as long as six hours without a break" because it's too specific for "as long as." It's concrete time and not hypothetical time.

I see, thank you, Uly, as usual, for your detailed explanation :)

My pleasure as always