Choose the word for the given options that could fit in the blank correctly.…

Concept

An idiom-collocation question tests whether a fixed phrase - words that habitually pair together to carry one specific meaning - fits the sentence's logic, not just a word's dictionary meaning in isolation. The pattern 'in ___ of' followed by a person requires a noun meaning 'a deliberate effort to equal or match that person's excellence', which is exactly the sense of the fixed English idiom 'in emulation of'.

Application

The sentence states that a young man 'worked hard in ________ of his famous father.' The logic signalled by 'worked hard' together with a famous father is that the son is striving to match or live up to his father's achievements. Among the five options, only the noun meaning 'an effort to equal or rival someone through one's own achievement' completes this sense and forms the standard English collocation with 'in ___ of'.

Cross-check - contrast with each option

• 'Copying' means directly reproducing something, often in a dishonest sense (as in exam copying); 'in copying of' is not a recognised English idiom, and it does not carry the sense of striving to match someone's excellence through one's own effort.

• 'Ape' is a verb meaning to mimic someone crudely or mockingly; it cannot function as a noun after 'in ___ of', and its mocking tone does not suit a son's earnest, respectful effort toward his father.

• 'Simulation' denotes an artificial or synthetic reproduction of something, such as a flight simulation; 'in simulation of' is not a standard English collocation, and it implies fakery rather than a genuine effort to reach real excellence.

• 'Multiplication' is a purely mathematical operation of repeated addition or scaling by a factor, with no bearing on a person's effort to match another's achievement.

Therefore, the word that correctly completes both the idiom and the sentence's logic is 'emulation', giving the idiomatically and semantically correct sentence: 'The young man worked hard in emulation of his famous father.'